Mass Effect: What Got Me in This Mess?
by Apathy of the Abyssal Void
Summary: You'd think seeing a Geth in your room would be bad, right? Try not to panic when you end up on the planet that's inhabited by them...It hardly seems bad by comparison...no pairings
1. Meeting Legion

*_Author's Note: Alrighty, I've gotten the Bleach/Naruto crossover with the TvTropes Topical chapter stuff into a halt, due to plenty of things that don't need explanation right now, until I can properly—you know what, screw it...I was distracted by Fanfic updates, having a life, becoming a Troper (My Troper Name will be mentioned later, alright?), and playing some Mass Effect and whatnot ( Heck, I even changed my FF name to compliment my Troper Name)._

_*AN 2: The reason I'm doing this up at the top instead doesn't matter right now; The real reason is that I've gotten back into Mass Effect was because of a fic called Mass Vexations. I don't recall where I found it, which was COMPLETELY BY ACCIDENT, mind you, and I did have a Xbox 360 copy of the first one around the time it was out and my older brother gave it to me as a gift, which disappeared and became a rather sore subject for me, spending money just to get ME1 on Steam. Recently, with ME3 rolling around and the popularity of the 2__nd__ ME game, it was rather...tempting to go and just write a bunch of stuff without the proper research, I have TvTropes, Youtube, and this site to thank for that. I've gotten as far as about reaching Virmire in ME1 and playing abit of the ME2 Demo available on Steam... I had a sudden surge of ideas on how to do this, but it's rather frustrating since I'm doing this FF stuff on my laptop, while in WA for a few months, so naturally I'd be pissed at the fact I'm so far behind gameplay-wise._

_*AN 3: Sorry for the 2__nd__ AN, it's a bit of a doozy there. Continuing from before, I've read MV, as well as: Masses to Masses. Into the Fire...Version 2 I believe, Mass Effect: The Outsider, Mass Effect: Dimension, what else hmmmm...oh yeah and Mass Effect: Intervention of Fate! There are a few other fics I'm willing to rec as well...just as soon as I can remember...Anyways, They're mostly SI's (Self-Inserts) so I'm a little hesitant on doing it as well, so I thought, _"Screw It, I have my ideas to go on..." _maybe borrowing some from their stories, I dunno, I'll wing it for the most part, hopefully get something right and not have to retcon it later..._

_*4__th__ (And Final) AN: I have read those other SI fics, and as awesome as they are, I just can't do the romance part for the life of me, which a little strange, considering I did have some sort of understanding on what love is...I can't say it...crap, this isn't good right now (__** Idiot... **__Quiet you!). Plain and simple: CANNOT DO ROMANCE. So if any shippers want to read a Shep(Fem!Shep)/?, read one of theirs, or better yet...play the game or something; just don't complain that I can not (and will not) create some sort of Romance side plot...I'm Sorry =(, honestly, I am truly sorry. Part of the reason is because I have no stable ground to base a working relationship on (I have no girlfriend...) and can't simply mash two characters due to: 1) Fandom {or Hatedom, choose your poison}, 2) Canon {Which is simply PICKING YOUR DESIRED COMPANION! Whew...sorry about that.} And 3) I'd rather not waste time building it in the foreground, so expect some hints of a ship to occur. It's just not very important, that's all I'm going to say about it._

_So without further ado, with a killer starting sentence... **and here we...go!**_

Mass Effect:

What Got Me in this Mess?

By:

Apathy of the Abyssal Void

Chapter 1:

_Meeting Legion...Oh , Joy (Sarcasm Mode)_

_What a day_, I sighed as I entered my room to tuck in for the night. 'Tis the year of 2011, within Mid-June , _must be past Midnight, meh. _I plopped down on my bed (read: mattress), watching a Let's Play of ME2 by User Name …... _is the screen that fuzzy? Stupid laptop!_ Technically, it was my fault for not cleaning the screen after using it for so long. Getting up, I went to get some liquid and a washcloth to clean it, only to come back and see a Geth in my rather small room. _Hey, it's a music room I'm sleeping in, no surprise on the size of the interior, _I thought as I observed it quietly, trying to figure out if the carpet smell finally poisoned my brain, causing hallucinations or something. As if something alerted it to my presence, it immediately stood activated, causing me to quirk an eyebrow at its appearance.

As I took in the sight of a Geth in my room, mostly with curiosity and a small amount of confusion, slowly turning into panic as I saw a rather large hole in it and a small logo above it. _If I'm not mistaken, that's-_ my thoughts cut off as the Geth spoke, " Identify yourself." His voice was rather crispy, mostly covered by a metallic form of static spoken for every syllable that was used in that statement. _Crap, how do I go about this, I could say my name is ****** *****, wait...That was all muffled as if...You have got to be kidding me, I can't even think of my name without stupid censors! What the f*** is that about! WTF! It did it again! _ As I mentally swore at the complications this could cause, I stopped my thought processes to respond, "Not now, I need to figure out as to how a Geth even got here. Let's see: No Unusual Storms and no bizarre weather events.

Data Transfer Into Reality_ Sounds like a Tron thing though..._Possible, but not with a laptop like mine here." As I paced back and forth to figure out on what to do, the Geth stood transfixed by my appearance and my behavior, unused to such eccentricities of a human civilian in its lifetime.

"_Identify yourself"_ it repeated, causing me to stop momentarily to realize that no matter what I do, I'm hopelessly screwed as of now. _I can't avoid this one at all, it looks like I'm going to be in it for the long haul, even if I pretended to not know what's happening, I'm __**dead certain**__ it'll bite me in the *** later though, or worse...Alright, might as well make this one count, _I thought turning to him speaking, "My name's ****** *****, just refer to my first name and you are?" I'm just hoping it got here sometime after its name was given, since it definitely would cause a headache to-"Legion," his answer was immediate, and precise to boot. My expression brightened at the rapid response. "Legion, can you explain how you ended up in my room?" I asked the hive-mind machine, still trying to figure out how the f*** he got here. " A temporal matrix that created a pathway, which lead to us arriving on Earth," _my Earth_ I thought bitterly as he continued on, not noticing my facial expression at the mention of Earth, "in which the portal ended in your room Civilian-******."

At least he's using my first name instead of my last, which could have been quite irritating to deal with, not like I could even fight him anyway. _I'd easily lose that fight_, I thought as he finished his theory of arrival to my Earth. I just realized the possibility of this Legion not being the one from Canon, since he answered me rather quickly, I decided to get to the point, " Meaning that some wormhole just happened to take you and sent you to my time-line for no reason whatsoever?" Legion replied, "Negative, I had arrived from ME-07612 by Creator-Hudson." I froze at the end of Legion's reply, shocked to believe that an Omniverse exists, and at the possibility of Time Travel being involved here. Well that and Bioware (_Casey Hudson to be more accurate)_ having a hand in this... I look up to say," You're enjoying this aren't you? Having some helpless civilian taking part of a potentially deadly mission to ensure the safety of a ME universe? I can see that going over well with my family before I go: '_I'm sorry about leaving to go on a mission that I just might die from at anytime, but don't worry, if something happens to me, I'll most likely become part of a Superhuman Terminator._..'" I stated, my voice drooling with copious amounts of sarcasm at the end of my speech.

So Casey Hudson had a personal hand in this Legion's arrival to my Earth, _Well, the guy's awfully nice about sending a Non-Heretic Geth to my universe, our universe? It doesn't matter, I need to know why Legion's here, it can't be some sort of accident, right?_ As if sensing my distress to my current predicament, Legion brought up his Omni-Tool to relay a broadcasting signal, creating some sort of holographic image of what I assumed to be The Illusive Man._ Oh joy,_ I thought,_ little old 'TIM' decides to pay me a visit as well, this CANNOT end well..._ Before I could speak, TIM decided to answer my questions, in his usual BS fashion, as I had known from the Let's Play videos and various other sources, with the following sentence, "Hello ******, I assume you and Legion are well acquainted by now? Good, in that case, I'll bring you up to speed on your situation-" Cutting him off I decided to respond in irritation," Look, I know pretty well what's about to happen: You, The Illusive Man, want me to find a way to send Legion here back to his respective universe, just so I can assist him in finding Commander Shepard, and take part in the little _mission_ to the Collector base, and possibly use some sort of radioactive EMP wave to kill whatever remaining Collectors are there to keep the base and use its technology against the Reapers. Did I leave anything out, _sir_?"

Shaking his head, he responded, "Not at all, ******, not at all. You're a very sharp man to have known what can or will happen, tell me: Did you ever play Mass Effect 2?" _Huh, that's new, I wonder if Hudson really IS The Illusive Man, it certainly makes sense that he would know about his respective AU's, as well as his Canon-verse. Hey! This brings up an awesome idea! "_Afraid not, sir. I haven't been able to finish the first and I've seen plenty of videos of ME2, so I'm a bit stuck." TIM frowns at this, but motions for me to continue, "But, I have an idea on how to solve it. Legion." Said Geth turned to me, as if waiting for some kind of order, "Can you archive any and all data pertaining to the Mass Effect franchise?" "Acknowledged." he confirmed, beginning to transfer the data straight to his Omni-Tool. While commencing the transfer, I turned back to see TIM chuckle at me. Curious, I asked, " What's so funny? All I did was ask Legion for the data transfer and that's it." He responded, " I find it funny that you were the first person to try and maintain some amount of levelheadedness and properly assessed your situation rather quickly, far faster than your predecessors did when they first arrived in their Alternate Mass Effect Universes. While a few did have some..._unorthodox_ methods on their arrival, yours will be much easier to deal with."

_Greaaat. _I thought, _I'm considered _special_, for not arriving for the following: wasted off of some weird stuff, weather manipulations, or by amnesia. Well, it couldn't have been that bad I suppose. Wait a second, he said predecessors, which means that...Aw crap, now I feel bad about taking cheap shots at people I don't even know. Wait a second, He did the same thing, only without the guilt of doing the Take Thats at the other guys that got caught in their respective situations...If that's how it's gonna be, I'll try and do it for the Rule of Funny, I guess. If not, then I need some sort of Comic Relief while I'm there._

After my internal monologue, I decided to ask Legion to do something for me, since there will be a high probability of me being declared dead or worse, a fugitive or something, "Would it be possible to archive TvTropes as well? I need some amount of medium awareness to help deal with whatever stress I might have during the more...intense and emotional parts of the time-line. That is, if we start early on. I prefer to begin before Eden Prime in order to convince Shepard of our intentions and provide assistance, if the Commander's willing by that point. Otherwise," I stared at TIM before continuing, " You may need to have the Lazarus Project at the ready, in case he dies prematurely or have more volunteers to make the project more efficient when he does die at the right time."

The Illusive Man nodded and responded, "I understand. I'll find a way to accomplish a more efficient way of having the Project finished with a high success rate, which means you have just become our first test subject for the Lazarus Project." His expression was filled with mirth and deviousness, as if he loved to see people squirm or something.

"WHAT! Why me? You, of all people, should know that the Project was meant for Shepard when the Commander dies by the Collector's assault on the Normandy _that day_!" I roared at him, clearly unhappy at the insuation of me dying and being brought back from the dead, within the timespan of 2 years no less.

"Don't worry about the details, I'm going to make sure Shepard remains the same after the Project is complete and have him up and running in no time." TIM quietly retorts. "In the mean time, once you and Legion arrive in your Alternate Universe, the coordinates of the wormhole should land you above a Cerberus-controlled base that isn't far from where the Lazarus Project will be located at. Upon your arrival, my Counterpart will wish to speak with Legion before the Preliminary Testing begins. If you happen to encounter any oppostion before your departure...know that it may prove beneficial should you die in order for the Project to fully commence."

"Quick question: What's my alibi supposed to be? I need some sort of identity to go on if Shepard or any or his crew members get suspicious of me and Legion, although they may be willing to comply if I were to be on Rannoch some how for a good amount of time to make my story of the geth allying with Saren and Sovereign being heretics much more believable."

"Unadvisable. Any mention of true geth will cause alarm in the Creator species, thus attempting to destroy this platform with vengeance clouding their minds, making poor judgements and even poorer actions." Legion responded, with his...facial frame bending inwards a few times during the calculated response.

"Well, I'd make sure no one tries that on you, especially if they were to hack your systems and shut you down. I'm not one for racism here, but I understand that the geth and quarians had bad blood between them for a long time now. You, the true geth, seek retribution for the actions the quarians have taken against you, while the quarians wish death upon your kind for the deaths of their loved ones and their exile, where they reside in the Migrant Fleet. If only the quarians and geth could work past their differences together, they would be able to move forward to a brighter future. It may be difficult at first, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen."

Nodding to myself, knowing that whatever happens, I wanted to make sure that I'm doing this for the right reasons I believe in, not for The Illusive Man, not Cerberus, or anyone else who would dare tell me otherwise.

If only that I knew what the hell I was doing, signing up for a plausable insane journey to a ME-verse, with a **_99.9%_** chance of dying and the 0.1% chance of getting out alive...

_Well_, I thought making my final decision, _time to make some noise._ I turned to TIM and stated, "I'm ready. When do we leave?"

_I just hope the landing will be smooth...yeah right, not likely in the least._

* * *

><p><strong>There we go! This is temporary and my updates will be slow at first, which means I'm still trying to get a decent balance on the chapter length here and I may attempt to extend the first chapter if it doesn't come out right.<strong>

**I will return with the second chapter of my first story by either mid-June or early July. Otherwise, I'll be focusing on this story for now, trying to get the flow going through. See you later then!**

_~The Abyssal Void_


	2. Preparing To Leave

_Okay! I thank those who have been patient for some time now...turning 21 was a little crazy for me, I guess...At any rate, I am updating whenever I get the chance to, considering that I have a very hectic schedule now, so I won't be able to update as often as I'd like. But please be patient with me, I am still new at this, so you can review at your own discretion, although I am just as likely to ignore anything that may prove to be 'hazardous' to my story (i.e. rewriting my story for you as if it was your own). As I mentioned before, I won't have my character arrive at Rannoch at the beginning, mostly because of a potential clash of events that were to occur, easily making my story a full AU, while I'd rather focus on dealing with The Stations of Canon, after the 'experimental process' the poor guy has to suffer through =)._

_And so, we start where we last left our...reluctant hero..._

Mass Effect: What Got Me in This Mess?

By:

Apathy of the Abyssal Void

Chapter 2:

_Preparation for Departure_

* * *

><p>"Not yet, I believe you need to say farewell to your family, right?" The Illusive Man spoke inquisitively, making me arch my eyebrow slightly at the question.<p>

"I had planned on doing so, why ask me that? Even I knew it would be better to inform them that I'm leaving for an indefinite amount of time, including the possibility of dying during this intense journey." I declared with a little amount of disbelief at the idea of leaving and not say goodbye to them at all. Shaking my head a little, I look back at TIM, only to see that he vanished before I got the chance to ask about the rendezvous point.

"Well Legion, I'll be right back to pack whatever I need to leave."

"Understood, we will remain on guard until your return, preferable if we patrol this house."

"All right then, try to stay out of sight as much as possible, I don't want the neighbors to freak out at the sight of you out in the open. It will also put a damper in our plans should either of us be discovered before we leave Earth for good."

"Acknowledged. We will remain hidden for the time being, Civilian-******."

_Man, this really sucks having my name blurred every time it's mentioned...I hate unnecessary censoring, it feels like the universe wants me to keep my identity a secret or something._ I mentally sighed, as I walked out of my room, through the small laundry room, and up to the door of the kitchen. Pausing, I stopped right before I knocked on the wooden door, having trouble deciding if I should tell them what had happened not too long ago.

_Well, I'm already here at the door, so no going back on this at all. I tell them what happened, omit anything that isn't necessary to mention and I leave this world...somehow._

My mind raged momentarily, until Legion, the ever sneaky b****** that he is, decides to choose for me and knocks on the door loud enough to wake up my step-mom, whom walks to the door afterward. Legion hides right before she opens the door, making me wonder why he wouldn't just simply stand next to me, realizing that she might freak out seeing him there.

She opens the door and asks tiredly," What's going on, ******? It's the middle of the night right now."

I turned to her and said, "I need to talk to you guys, it's very important and I don't have much time to say anything at the moment. You need to wake Dad and ****** up immediately, otherwise I won't be able to have time to say goodbye."

She looks at me, concerned as to why I'm so serious right now, until she nods and hurries over to wake both of them up. _Way to go Legion, you made me feel uncomfortable there with you hiding nearby. Oh well, time to face the music once more... _My thoughts ending, as I walked slowly to the living room, trying to find a way to explain the situation I've been saddled with thus far. As I paced back and forth in front of the small wooden coffee table, my step-mom came in, with Dad and ****** in tow, her being carried like a baby as she was still very sleepy, having being rudely awoken by her mom.

I stopped pacing once they sat down on the couch in front of me, but behind the coffee table that was set in front of it. I turned to them, still wracking my mind on how best explain my predicament, until my Dad piped up, "******, is there something wrong? Did you have a bad dream?" His last question, while a bit of teasing, held a bit of seriousness to it. I nodded at the first question, but furiously shook my head no at the second, while waving my arms in front of me, further signifying my denial.

After the two adults stopped laughing, the three of us turned serious as I spoke, "Joking aside, I just got my self enlisted to take part in a '_scientific experiment_' that requires me to leave the country and I won't be able to come back, since I also have to be part of a '_secret military operation_' that occurs sometime after the science project. Even then, I-I don't think I'll be able to return after that, should I..._not survive the mission fully intact_." I mumbled the last part out, hoping they didn't catch on.

Sadly, my hopes were shot when Dad interjected, "What was the last part? You were all like _mumble mumble_." Granted, I didn't want to say this out loud with my little sister there, being 6 years old and all, it was all too difficult for me to say anything until ***** spoke, " Well ******, what was it? We need to get some sleep for work in the morning."

Without realizing it, I snapped at them angrily, waking my baby sister up with the following words that I would regret for the next few days, "_YOU KNOW WHAT? FINE! I'LL TELL YOU WHAT IT IS! AND DON'T YOU EVEN DARE INTERRUPT ME! I'M SUPPOSED TO HELP AN ALIEN ROBOT TRAVERSE TO A UNIVERSE, WHICH I THOUGHT DIDN'T EXIST, UNTIL NOW!"_ I stopped to catch my breath from having to yell so much at the moment, which I continued," _AND! AND I HAVE TO HELP A __MAN WHO NEEDS TO PROTECT AN ENTIRE GALAXY FROM AN ARMADA OF PSYCHOTIC ALIEN ROBOTS,WITH A NIGH-INFINITE SUPERIORITY COMPLEX, IN WHICH I COULD EASILY __**DIE AT ANY TIME!**_"

After that explosion of emotions I released, I started to breathe heavily, my eyes watering, threatening to spill at any moment from my sorrowful rage. I felt rather light-headed from that grievous outburst, swaying slightly, before I set my left hand on my chest and hunched over, with my right hand on the respective knee. I lifted my head upward, only to see my baby sister, with her head slightly raised from her resting position, looking at me with her tired eyes and appeared to be confused at my emotional ranting. I regained my breath and slowly stood up, all the while Dad and ***** were trying to get ****** to sleep again in order to put her back into her bed, finally realizing that I wasn't joking around about how serious my situation really is.

After they put my sister back into her bed, Dad came back out first and ***** right after he did, making sure the little one was fast asleep again. I gestured them to sit again, wanting to finish what I intended on saying before I left my home for an indefinite amount of time and possibly to never return. _I really need to work on my anger issues when it builds to the breaking point. Although it was odd, having fired off like that, maybe it's because of all the things that happened so far, that I just couldn't take it anymore. I wonder when I need to leave, it seems like I should do that pretty soon._.. My thoughts drifted away, when I noticed that they were waiting patiently for me to explain why I flipped out like that.

I closed my eyes, breathing deeply a few times to make sure that I was willing to continue the explanation. I opened my eyes and began to weave a tale of a galaxy similar to our own, how only a single human was brave enough to chase down a traitor, enlisting unique squad-mates of various alien species, and managed to bring down a colossus known as Sovereign. During the conversation we held, we heard a noise, but quickly dismissed it and continued to discuss the events from the Mass Effect series, unaware of a viewer nearby.

* * *

><p><span>Meanwhile, with Legion<span>

The Geth had left ******'s room to patrol the household, but to proceed with caution, should any of the neighbors possibly discover him. He made sure to scan at least 50 yards around the vicinity, to keep his optics out for any intruders, malevolent or not. Legion had also kept his transmitter active as he heard noises from within the house, decided to observe only, then slowly crept around the front of the house, his optics quickly scanning the front yard and the road, making sure no vehicles were passing through, before he crawled underneath the windows, out of sight of any living being. He just managed to turn around the side, when he heard a crunching noise under his foot, and immediately paused, waiting for the humans inside to continue their conversation after they stopped to listen, and continued to move to the closest window, where he would observe from his new position.

As he watched ****** talk with his relatives, he gazed at the room in which they were in, having a sense of displacement within the current time period before the discovery of Mass Effect technology, noticed how simplistic and slightly cluttered the room is. Wooden floorboards stretching from one end of the living room to the other end, with small furniture placed in centralized positions in front of each of the walls, yet having assorted items set in disarray within small groups upon said furniture. A reddish-brown door stood in-between two couches that were of a odd shade betwixt a light green and a lighter gray from the previous color, with a window behind each couch, the closer one being much larger than the one on the right side of the door. Legion quickly ducked and moved away from the window and kept on moving.

As Legion traversed the yard, using the tall hedges for cover on his right side, quickly and silently moved to the door again after taking notice of a large light blue barn not far from his position. The air cooled noticeably around him, realizing that the time to depart was drawing ever closer now. He needed to inform ****** about their impending departure and prepare to leave, with due haste. He slowly walked to the door and proceeded to knock, oblivious to his timely introduction to ******'s relatives.

* * *

><p><span>Back with ******...<span>

As our conversation came to a close, I looked at the clock, anxiously wondering, _Is he going to come in or do I need to drag his metal butt in here? I told them enough info to sate their curiosity, but I require his presence, to further cement the information I gave to them...If only he were to-_ A loud knocking came from the kitchen, startling allthree of us. I quickly recovered and told Dad and my step-mom, " I'll get it!" I instantly arrived at the door with my quick feet, being careful to avoid tripping over my long gray pajama pants, and opened the door.

* * *

><p><span>Normal P.o.V.<span>

I see Legion standing stock still, with his back away from me and snapped a full 180°, facing me at attention and holstered his weapon. Before he could speak, I brought my hand to my mouth in a "Shh!" position to prevent my Dad and step-mom from hearing him. I motioned for him to wait as I walked back to the two, waiting for me to speak and happen introduce Legion. I examined Dad and *****, checking to see if they would react how I imagined they would, when they would meet Legion. I would laugh if they freaked out or something similar to that.

I closed my eyes and said, "Remember when I mentioned how the Geth were divided between those that revered the Reapers as godlike beings, and those that opposed them entirely?" They both nodded and I continued, "There's one I'd like for you to meet...You can come in now." As I heard him enter the kitchen, I stepped aside for them to see Legion, in all his machine-like glory. _You know_, now that I think about it, _I don't really have any friends to come with me on this journey...this sucks. Major. Balls. All the way. Okay, bad thing to think about...must repress bad imagery...where's the bleach when you need it? Ugh, if anything else happens, I might end up using odd catch phrases or worship something like a log...hmm...maybe worshiping a log doesn't sound like a bad idea...beats praying to a guy that you don't know whether or not he exists, right? I might get killed for thinking that though...Although it doesn't matter if I die, more for The Lazarus Project, I guess._

Anyway, I turn my head to see how they reacted and...they were simply chatting with Legion, as if they had known each other for years. _Must've been too deep in thought too notice their reactions. Oh well, maybe Legion will tell me later about it, should I ever provide the inquiry...Nah, I might forget anyway. So they seem fine with seeing a Geth here, and took all that information pretty well...although she was a little skeptic about the whole thing until I exploded and Legion's introduction. Other than that, _gazing at the clock again I thought, _we need to leave soon, so I better say goodbye to them...I don't like it, but I have to do it, they could be in danger should I remain here any longer._

I spoke aloud to let them know I'm still here, "I think it's time we leave, right Legion?"

"Affirmative, the quicker we leave, the sooner we will arrive at our destination." Legion responded and turned to my Dad and *****, speaking in his usual deadpan voice, "We will depart and go our separate ways here, RN-David-" _Wait a moment there, my Dad's __name was mentioned there without censors...Now I know someone is screwing with me here...And I'm looking at you too...whoever you are, making me suffer for not having my name shown here or something...I'll get you for this!_

My Dad stood up to shake Legion's hand before walking to me and hugged me before saying, "Well Bunky-"

"Daaaaadd!~" I groaned, "Not in front of him! Now you're embarrassing me in front of a ME character too, must you do this every time?" I complained helplessly in front of Legion, trying not to act too stupid or something.

"Yes, yes I must. After all, this is the last time we'll ever see each other again!" Dad responded mirthfully, trying not to laugh at my current predicament at first, before settling down. My step-mom, *****, was giggling next to Dad, already too late for her to hold it in.

"Tch, meanie..." I pouted as I turned my head away, pretending to act a little cranky about his little jab at my dignity, all the while Legion stood observing our little squabble, curious in our behavior, which seemed similar to a Red Oni/Blue Oni thing or a Vitriolic Best Buds relationship...I can't recall which one it might be...meh, I shouldn't really care either. I turned back to them, looking seriously as I carefully regarded them in silence. I then gave my Dad and my step-mom a hug before stepping back to look at them one last time before leaving forever.

I realized I forgot to grab my bag of things I planned on bringing with me...if only I had a duffel bag shaped TARDIS with me, I wouldn't have a problem bringing my stuff with me tonight. I ran to my room to grab some clothes, personal effects, including my iPod and laptop. _I'll definitely need them some day, whenever things get a little tedious on the Normandy and I need to do something...probably not, things are hardly boring with the Commander involved, _I thought as I packed the last few items into my bag, making sure everything was secure and the room was very tidy after clearing up anything that was mine.

As I looked around, I see a little white envelope laying on the carpet floor, in front of what used to be a stereo system. I picked it up, feeling it's smooth surface and trying to figure out where it came from, 'cause I'm positive it wasn't here before when I entered the room earlier that night. I flipped the envelope over to see my name on it, in terrible writing with it misspelled and all, while the name of the sender was written in a rather neat and organized manner...let's see: it's from TIM, _no surprise there_, and my name was written like a child would have or someone with awful writing skills. I opened the envelope to see a letter in it, all tucked neatly inside without so much as uneven crease.

I quickly pulled it out and threw the envelope aside, I scanned the letter, only to pull a double-take, before rereading what was written:

_Dear Roland,_

_I see that you found this letter in your room, obviously you must be fully prepared to leave right now. However, it appears that Legion's arrival has brought unwanted attention from your government and has prepared to move in on your location, in which they will arrive in about 2 hours from when you finish reading this letter. I have prepared an escort party for you and Legion once you leave the household, although I must warn you that your escorts are rather...eccentric is a bit of an understatement. To give a hint would be saying: "Memory is the key" or something else vaguely similar to what you would know as a media reference. I have also brought a few souvenirs from different worlds as necessary items you will need for your journey. You will acquire them in an orderly fashion, either as rewards or tools needed to complete a task for me._

_At any rate, once your escorts arrive at the house, you will be taken to a secret location for safety, out of public and government eyes. You will then hitch a ride on a ship that will transport you to your first of many destinations, in which you must prepare yourself for the events of the ME universe. I expect nothing less from you or you will die trying to achieve these goals. I will meet you on the other side. _

_Until then,_

_The Illusive Man_

_PS - Your first gift will be with your escorts, so once you obtain it, I expect you to familiarize yourself with it's contents by the time we meet again._

I glared at the letter in irritation, hoping that it burns or explodes in front of my eyes, due to the sheer audacity that TIM has for ordering me around like that. I turn around to see Legion standing behind me, his facial plates bent slightly inward, thinking for a few more seconds before speaking, " Our sensors indicate that you dislike The Illusive Man for his decisions, concerning your departure. Also, we believe it is time to leave now."

I breathed slowly and closed my eyes to ponder, _What will happen should we leave this location? Everyone here is in danger, so they need to get to safety before government agents come down and capture every single innocent civilian, then possibly torture them for information on us. Legion's right, we need to leave, and fast._

I grabbed my iPod and headphones, searching for a song to play at the moment, until I found what I was looking for. I placed the headphones around my neck and the iPod in the right jacket pocket for now, until we reach our escorts location. I also grabbed my bag, making sure it's secure before I went back inside to say goodbye to Dad and *****. I carried it inside and set it down on my left side, which Dad promptly bear hugged me tightly, with my arms flailing sideways and attempting to breathe before he released me slowly. I quickly gave ***** a hug before I said a rapid, "See ya!" and ran outside to the front of the yard, with my travel bag in tow, searching for anyone nearby that may look familiar to me.

I see Legion catch up to me, arriving next to the mailbox, waiting for our transport to arrive, until we hear a deep voice speak, "_Greetings Roland *****, it is nice to meet you in person for the first time."_ For some odd reason, I hear the song _528491_ play in my head, when I clearly know that it isn't best to hear it at the moment. Once I turned around to face the speaker, the infamous booming noise played as I gazed upward to see, to my utter surprise, someone I shouldn't be able to see here right now.

_I am facing Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots._

I had only a small thought, as I gazed into his peripherals, feeling incredibly small as a newborn baby.

_Well...shit._

* * *

><p><strong>Alrighty, the second chapter is finished now! How will he get to his destination, with Optimus with him, government agents out to get Legion, and a galaxy to save? Stay tuned until next time, readers!<strong>

**-Apathy of the Abyssal Void**


	3. CWEW Pt1: An Unexpected Surprise

_Hi there! Void here with a new chapter update, for all you readers and whatnot. I'm most likely going to abandon the first story in favor to this one temporarily, until I can get things __moving up to Eden Prime. So the Prologue Arc for Roland, partnered with Legion (Not that way either! 0/0), will mostly consist of him attempting to reach the Mass Effect universe, meet Shepard at one point to gain his/her trust to join his/her crew ab__oard the Normandy at a later point in time. __And yes, it's been _months _since the previous update. Life is frustrating that way._

_So with that squared away, let's begin!_

_En Taro Adun, Readers!_

Mass Effect:

What Got Me In This Mess?

By:

Apathy of the Abyssal Void

Chapter 3:

_The Chase Within Evergreen Roads (Part I):_

_An Unexpected Surprise_

* * *

><p>I rubbed my eyes, making sure I wasn't deluding myself into thinking that seeing Optimus Prime was an illusion of some kind. Seriously, why would he even be here? Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but it <em>really<em> doesn't make sense that he would be here right now. I was at least expecting the Red Vs Blue guys to be here, and I mean people like: Sarge, Tucker, Simmons, Caboose, Grif and Church. Anyway, shaking my head a bit, relieving myself of those notions of seeing those guys at all, and looked at Optimus with curiosity in my mind.

The Cybertronian's gaze was impenetrable, as though he were to be looking right through me, instead of my own curious eyes as he spoke, "_While it is a pleasure to meet you Roland, I would prefer it to be under better cir__cumstances than what is to happen to you._" "Yeah, same here." I replied while nodding at his comment, as he continued, "_However it is imperative that both you and Legion must leave this area before more humans come to this location and capture the both of __you for questioning. I have a few allies, including Autobots, ready to guide us through the road without unwanted attention from other humans."_

My curiosity getting the better of me, I ask Optimus, "Who else is supposed to guide us to our destination?"

"_In a nearby location that is close to the mountain range, where we will be out of their range, there is a small group of warriors that excel at stealth and are capable of neutralizing any opposition from infantry units, while Ironhide and Sideswipe will __deal with any vehicular difficulties." _The Autobot leader replied, looking away from me and searching for any movements within the surrounding forests. I looked over at Legion, whom I surmised that was gazing at Optimus with great interest, as the living mech continued his search for enemy movements. I sighed before looking back at Optimus speaking, "Well, we should go now, they could catch us if we stand around here for too long." "_You are correct Roland, we must hurry to our rendezvous point_." Optimus replied before quickly transforming, his body shifting, folding and collapsing in numerous areas that changed from his original form to his vehicle mode that faced in the direction of the road crossing ours not too far ahead. His vehicle mode was rather impressive (_a mack truck was it? I can't recall)_, considering its size compared to what the movies may have shown or in some sort of documentary.

I widened my eyes in realization at an idea I really should have considered beforehand: _How am I supposed to __defend myself if they shoot at us? I don't want to rely on them to protect me the entire way and I know it isn't something of pride, maybe it's because I don't want to feel useless if everyone decides to protect me without my consent. Although they would d__o it no matter what the cost, THAT much I know._ Cutting myself from my musing, I looked over at Legion again, gesturing him to enter the large truck first in a "after you" sort of thing. Legion nodded, proceeding to enter the truck, taking step up into the passenger side and closed the door, while I held onto my _tag-along bags_, going around the front of Optimus, then entered the driver's side, closing the door behind me.

I turned to the house one last time, only to see Dad and ***** waving from the window like we always do whenever one of us leaves the house for a little while. I wave back at them as we leave the little street behind and we entered the road, heading northbound to our destination, with so little time left before Legion and leave this little ball of dirt for good. I know for a fact that all of this was rather sudden for me and my family, with me abruptly torn away from everything that I know and love, while they lose me forever, never knowing if I'll make it out of this crazy situation alive or not.

_It's best not dwell so much on it, probably makes me feel like my old childhood self, going into some sort of depressive state that's obviously not like me for that to happen. Man, thinking positively almost seems like freaking mission in of it__self, although I suppose it would be considered something like a pessimist, if not in a _more_ depressing manner than simply stating every single negative possibility or outcome._

I slowly close my eyes, listening to the hypnotic sound of the vehicle moving. With the last of my thoughts drifting away, waiting until we arrive at where we _need...*yawn* to be,_ _*yawn*_ _our..._

* * *

><p>A sudden jolt from Optimus woke me up, as I rapidly looked around to see if we arrived, only to see we were still traveling, on a long winding road with no other vehicles passing by us at all on either side of the road. Hm, that's rather odd, there should be at least one other vehicle passing by on the other side of the road. I looked over at Legion hazily, who happened to have taken over my previous position, while I was lying down with my head on top of my larger bag and my smaller bag right below me in front of the seat. I sat upright, gently moving my bag next to my smaller bag, and then proceeded to stretch my arms and legs, groaning rather loudly while I stretched outwardly.<p>

I look outside to see that it was mostly dark still; it's possible that only thirty minutes or an hour had passed since I fell asleep. I grumbled a bit, realizing that I fell asleep in a vehicle yet again. That'll be a major problem if I keep passing out every time I ride in a vehicle, despite the size and type of vehicle that I ride in. I mean seriously, every time I get in a car or a truck or something, it takes roughly ten minutes on the road for me to fall asleep, and it's _really_ irritating too. Shaking my head, I turn to see Legion gazing at the trees surrounding us, as we are going through multiple turns on the road. I yawned a bit while I asked, " Do you know how close we are to our destination?"

"_Affirmat__ive_. _We are approximately 359 meters from the rendezvous point, Civilian-Roland_." Legion replied, facing the seemingly endless road ahead of us.

"Thanks, *_yawn_* Legion."

Now fully awake, I straightened myself up in the seat, trying to readjust myself until I see something ahead of us. I turned to Legion quizzically then turn back to the road a few times, until we came to a complete stop about 30 yards from the apparent obstruction ahead of us. I turned to Legion one last time, with him facing me, both nodding to each other to signify that I would check it out. I jump outside to see the source of the problem, not before quietly telling Optimus, "Stay alert, we may need to run if this is what I think it is." Optimus, in his vehicle mode, could only hum in affirmation as he slightly rolled back, just in case if the government's pet mooks were nearby, ready to do something._ Something incredibly stupid, I bet._

I walked over to see that our obstacle happened to be a group of highway patrolmen that set up a barricade on both sides of the road, with the officers with their weapons at the ready, searching for something. _And I'm gonna find out exactly what they're searching for,_ I thought as I strode over to the barricade, ready to be the initiator of the impending conversation.

"Hello officer, do you happen to know what's going on here?" I asked politely as best as I could for now until he replied, " I'm sorry sir, but I need you to take your truck and go back wherever it is you came from, the road is closed so I need you to leave and find another route to take." Huh, didn't think I'd get shut out like that, time for another tactic now.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, I just got done transporting my last load for the day and I need to take this route back to my boss, or else he'll have my hide if I don't return his truck safely." I told him in false nervousness, attempting to convince the officer to let me pass.

"Boss? Son, you look really young to be driving that thing around. I need to see your license and registration, if you don't mind." He spoke with a heavy amount of surprise and disbelief at my appearance, not knowing how old I actually am.

_Ah, I shaved earlier today, that must have been the reason he thought I was too young to drive something like that_. _But that doesn't make sense, the state should obviously have a minimum age limit on driving, either in general or for specific vehicles. I wonder if the state and country-wide limit are the same...Wait a sec, that was stupid to think like that! Obviously __they shouldn't, since each state should have its own age limit...CA was roughly 16, although I don't know Wash's minimum age limit...crap. Looks like it's time for a little improvisation..._ My thoughts ending, I move slightly towards Optimus, indirectly showing that I'm heading back to retrieve my "license".

"Sure thing, I'll be right back!" I spoke cheerfully although it was somewhat forced, not liking the situation I've been saddled with at the moment. I know that I have no driver's license, especially the kind needed to drive a vehicle not unlike what Optimus looks like in vehicle mode. I jogged a bit back towards the "truck", as they viewed it to be, hopped right up to the door on Legion's side, only to see Legion contorted in such a way that from the outside, no one should see him _at all_, yet inside he's shaped himself like an interior mold. I tried so hard not to laugh at the position Legion placed himself in, _by The Log_, it was too hard to resist laughing at him.

Calming myself down, I asked the Geth platform, "What are you doing?"

"Consensus states that hiding from the armed organics was vital to our operation. Hiding in this formation was the most suitable option."

"You look ridiculous. Also, your consensus is partially wrong for hiding like that, no one is willing to believe hiding like that would prevent others from seeing you. It is even less likely that even if you were to hide in a cardboard box, someone would be able to see you eventually. _Especially_ if you were able to use a box in the firstplace."

"We do not understand the reference in which this "_cardboard box"_ would be suitable for cover or disguise."

"That's alright; I would be _extremely_ disturbed if you did, along with any of the info that correlates to the box itself. Now, would you kindly help me find anything that could resemble a driver's license, I really need to find it."

"_A__cknowledged_." Legion responded, having to move slowly in order not to alert the patrolmen ahead of us.

Heh, obviously anyone that would have been able to hear that bit of conversation would know what I had just referenced. I'll just chalk up that Legion didn't quite look deeply enough into it. Hm, he should have been able to make the connection right away from that tidbit. After all, he quickly understood his namesake, so that makes me wonder why he didn't point out the reference, unless...

"Legion, stop what you're doing_ right now,_" I quickly told him, realizing that something wasn't right about this situation. Legion stopped moving, having noticed my distress at what just occurred between us. I quickly got inside, closed the door behind me and rapidly began searching for what I just asked Legion not too long ago. I opened the glove box that was near Legion's head, and scoured its contents, hoping to find something important. Right when I pulled my hand out, a small package fell out, roughly the size of an average shoebox, lightly bouncing on the geth platform's head and slid off from his topside.

My eyebrow raised at the sight of the box that just fell out of the compartment. Okay, that doesn't look right, there's no reason that a shoebox should be able to fit in that compartment at all. Grabbing the box slowly, I looked all around it, checking to see if it was safe to open it without damaging its contents. I opened the box very carefully, making sure that I didn't set off some sort of trap that may have been placed in it, then I peered inside the box, only to see a strange device next to what appears to be a driver's license and a driver's id card for Washington State. "How convenient that TIM got me _exactly_ what I needed for that particular problem." I muttered to myself, although I have no clue what that device is for, despite the fact that it came with my license.

The device had the appearance of a long black glove, with some gray wire-like lines running across both sides of the glove, with multifaceted translucent hard plating covering it, making it look rather futuristic and white concentric circle placed where the palm would be. If this is supposed to be some sort of omni-tool, then whoever built it is insane. I've played Mass Effect well enough to know that I've never recalled seeing some sort of unique looking glove with that exact purpose in mind. Whenever I try replacing old omni-tools with new and better ones in the game, it only showed the hologram surrounding the character's entire forearm, not its exact appearance in terms of design, mind you.

"How odd. Legion, what do you think this is?" I asked the geth, curious to see if that really is an omni-tool.

[[_Scanning...Analysis complete._]] "Well?" I asked impatiently, wanting to get out of our predicament as soon as possible.

"_Our scanners indicate that it is a prototype device that behaves similarly to an omni-tool, possibly designed for Civ__ilian-Roland in mind. Further research shows that the device was created from individual parts not of this Earth_," Legion replied, although he has more to say about the omni-tool snow clone. I nodded and he continued, "_The properties of the device are unkn__own until further testing. However, this device will self-destruct should another organic or a synthetic attempt to use it_."

_Great,_ I thought,_ Now I have no choice but to use this thing...the game makes it look so easy to use, but now it just feels odd w__earing this thing, especially if I don't have a another glove for my other hand an-hello, what's this?_

I lifted the glove-like device up to see a folded piece of paper that had been placed underneath it. I slowly grasped the paper, gently removing it from its former position, slowly out of the box and set the box aside; wanting to know what is written on this thing. Picking up the paper, I carefully opened it, only to see that it has no words in it.

_Really? Nothing written at all? Why would there be __a piece of paper in the box, but no writing in it? I was hoping for some kind of instruction manual or an actual note from TIM. Man, what a letdown that was._ I thought in annoyance, as I glared at the offending blank piece of paper, wanting to simply burn it with my gaze.

Shoving the blank piece of paper into my left pants pocket, I neatly folded the necessary papers, and then placed them to the side momentarily. I grabbed my new driver's id card, placed it in my wallet, closing the box afterward. I then reinserted the box into the glove compartment gently, making sure that the glove, as well as the box, doesn't get damaged. I sighed dejectedly, hoping that I could find a simple solution out of this frustrating situation, but alas, I cannot right now. I sit upright, scratching the back of my head of confusion and holding the papers in my other hand, before exiting again, leaving the two –- er robots, to their own devices.

I jog right back to the officer that was being unusually patient, during my little mishap with Legion. Thinking back, something about this situation is really bizarre, like these guys aren't meant to prevent us from going in, but to keep something from coming out. I mentally shake my head at the utterly ridiculous idea and how cliché it would be to have... I don't know a parasitic race hell-bent on consuming all organic life or some unexplained paranormal phenomena that likes to feast upon the souls of sinners.

I shook my head, ridding myself of those morbid thoughts I had, as basic as they could be. I faced the officer warily, half-expecting the man to surprise me by actually being a government agent in disguise, handing him my "papers" for him to inspect. While waiting for him to finish, I glance around to see the other police officers focusing their attention on me, just waiting for me to make a wrong move as an excuse to shoot me. I chuckled at the thought of this being a charade, making my situation seem more comical, but no less perilous. The officer looks up at me, his expression was a 'what-the-hell-is-so-funny' on his face, and I shrugged noncommittally before he resumed reading the papers.

"Okay, it looks like you're all squared away, Mr. Cain. Have a nice evening." He spoke, looking up at me with a smile while turning to the others shouting, "Alright, let 'em through." I sighed in relief as he returned the papers to me, quietly stating "thank you", then proceeded to enter the vehicle yet again. Before I 'started' the vehicle, I checked the papers that I handed to the officer earlier. _Hm, l__et's see... Cain, Cain, where was that section for the name? Ah, here we go, Cain... Ciaphas Cain__ (__**HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!**__) The hell was that about__? __I don't see anyone, so where did that come from?_

Shoving my thoughts aside, I grabbed the false documents, then immediately placed them inside the glove box on top of the '_secret weapon container_', closing it tightly to prevent anything from falling out. I allow Optimus to start up again, placing my hands on the wheel, I 'drove' through the open barricade at a decent speed to maintain my persona and avoid doing anything that would have them suspect something from me. I continued to drive a little ways until we were out of range, in which Legion collapsed from his position on top of me, losing my grip on the wheel and fell over. Optimus naturally took over quickly as our fumble ensued for the duration. "Um, Legion?" I asked, wondering why the hell he fell directly on me while I had my hands on the wheel, despite the fact that Optimus would normally drive anyway. "_It was best to return to our previous position once we were away from the other organics_." Legion replied, slightly unfazed by the fact that he fell on me, regardless of the idea that had Optimus not taken over, we would be in trouble relatively quickly.

"Yeah well, try to let me know the next time you do something that stupid, alright?"

"_Affirmative_."

I managed to push Legion off my back and scooted over to the passenger side, during which he turned his torso and his right arm, making me feel a little freaked out by the sudden movements that Legion made that were just _too close _for comfort, before settling down in my seat.

Whew...At any rate, things seem to go smoothly so far right now. Hm, now that I think about, it's going a little _too_ smoothly. That's not a good sign. I usually tend to feel paranoid whenever things tend to go too smoothly for me, and that happens a lot, especially now. I check the area around us: nothing but blurs of green and hints of brown right now. Still, I can't help but worry that something big is gonna happen soon. I really have no clue when it'll happen, but if it does: I _**need**_ to be ready for it. Or else all sentient life will vanish by the Reapers' hand. It's weird how things happen like that. Still feeling tense, I decided to let Optimus know what to do now. "I don't like this. We need to hide. _Now!_" I shouted my last word as Optimus immediately veered off the road and *_cue Transforming sequence here_* he proceeds to take the three of us into the wooded terrain. Not long after, a small group of military helicopters fly right over us.

"_Fantastic_." I muttered, seeing the helicopters flying overhead and away from our hiding spot. "How are we gonna get through if they have eyes in the sky?" I wondered, if there was ever a time for assistance, now would be a good time. "_Sh. We need to remain quiet if any human foot patrols appear."_ Optimus whispers to us smaller folks; well, as much as he could anyway. I lower my head to view the current surroundings, which happens to be more trees as per usual. Sheesh, I'm too lazy to even consider describing how tense our situation is right now, and that's saying something.

At any rate, the only shot we have at making this stretch is to travel by foot in the forest, even though that isn't the best choice we have right now. I turn my head to Legion, seeing him with his weapon out at the ready. "_Psst. Legion!_" I whispered to the geth, not wanting to be left defenseless while the two deadly robots do all the work for me, which really doesn't make me feel any better in the slightest. He turns his head to me, wondering what I wanted from him, "_Yes?"_ he inquires me. "_Toss me your pistol would you?"_ I whispered back to him, desperately hoping he'd say yes...maybe. He nods, quickly grabbing the holstered weapon and tossed it to me, albeit slowly to make sure the trajectory was steady enough for me to catch it. Seeing it head right towards me, I frantically try to grab it, hoping that I wouldn't drop it.

As I steadied myself, I hear a noise not far from us within the immediate area. I quickly turn my head around, scanning to see where it came from. _Huh, I don't see anything. Oh well. Must've been my-_

***WHACK***

The sound of the impact left my mind (and face) rather blank for a few seconds... Only for it catch up to me rather instantaneously.

_OW. That frickin' hurt!_

I managed to catch the pistol...with my face. My face. Seriously, that's not funny, being struck in the face by a flying pistol tossed by a geth that knew exactly where it would land. As I held the weapon in my right hand rather loosely by my side, I rubbed the impact area with the opposing hand, trying to soothe the pain the gun brought upon me. I turn back to Legion rather irritated that his gun hit me in the head. "What was that about? All I did was momentarily turn my head away from the pistol. So why did it have to hit me like that?" I complained rather loudly, unbeknownst to either of us that Optimus had been viewing the situation with amusement and a barely hidden smile.

To my whiny rants Legion replies,"_ There had been a high probability that you would be __able to catch it. Consensus was unable to determine how you would react upon catching it. There was no data available nor any consensus achieved on how you would c__atch it."_

Rolling my eyes, I lift the pistol upwards to practice my aiming by pointing the gun at random objects without shooting only because I didn't want to risk us being discovered by accidentally firing this gun or end up shooting either of the two friendlies here. Alright, I see nothing wrong right now but I'm not gonna lower my weapon just because I don't see anything right now. Feeling a little bored, I decide to start a conversation to ease our worries.

"So Optimus, are we clear for movement?"

"_Not yet_."

"Okay, just checking. How about you Legion?"

"_Negative._"

"Nothing, huh? Fantastic. Might as well sit it out until they leave the area, unless they know we're here and they're waiting for us to make a move. That doesn't sound like fun at all."

"S_ettle down now, it'll be over shortly._"

"If you say so." I shrugged noncommittally as I sat down with the pistol at my side, bored somewhat. Optimus spoke after seeing the patrols leave the area,"_Alright__. We can move but quietly. We cannot alert them to our presence._" Legion and I nodded in understanding, so we moved together as he suggested through the dense forest.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, an unusual robotic bird landed on a rather high tree branch about several trees south of the trio currently making their way through. "<em>Do you see the target?<em>" a mysterious voice asked it."_I see the boy. Permission to take him out?" _it asks in response._ "Negative. Prime is with them, that will only make them wary of the ambush. Pursue, but do not engage them." "Understood." _it replies before it continues to follow the group. It quickly hid itself before the boy had the chance to see it. It moved out of hiding as soon as he turned his head away and continued its pursuit.

* * *

><p>Crap, I just realized that I don't have armor. What am I going to do if I get shot? Obviously I would rely on cover more than they would, since I'm more vulnerable than the other two. Ah well, it's not like we'll run into any danger for awhile right? Right? I probably just doomed us by saying that too.<p>

Let's see, we're surrounded by trees, lots of cover to hide behind, and I don't have enough experience to properly use a gun. Oh joy, I'm sure we'll get through this soon. Who knows, we may get help if we get closer to our destination. As I was following my companions, I felt the barrel of a gun touch the back of my skull. "_Don't move and don't even think about turning around._" I slowly nodded and stood still, while my companions moved further ahead of me, not realizing I had been somewhat captured by an unknown enemy.

I whispered quietly to my captor, "_Okay. Not moving an inch. So, why are you holding me hostage?_" "_Shut up. I ask the questions, not you. First question: Who are you?" _I froze when the question came up. After all, I was never good at standing my ground when being asked like that. I usually get stuck not able to say anything until the person left me alone. I get the feeling I could die if I don't answer. "_Ciaphas Cain (__**HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!**__)_" With that title spoken out loud, startling my captor as well as alert my companions, I grab the person's arm and held my gun up, only to see an unusual person in front of me. Well what do you know, this person might be familiar. Hmm... a SPARTAN armor set, yet some parts are different. A...Scout helmet? Or was it Rogue helmet...Hm, the entire armor color is teal. I don't recognize anyone with the armor design.

"Now that I've said my part, I'll ask you the same question: _Who are you_?" I spoke calmly, despite my nervousness in the middle of an intense situation and the possibility of this person kicking my ass all over the place. "I'm not obligated to answer that, kid." the mysterious person responded casually. I raised my eyebrow as I stated, "Are you sure you want to do that? 'Cause I find it hard to believe that you would have control of the situation right now." "Oh really? What makes you think that?" "Well~" I stated, dragging the word out a little bit before continuing, "I'd think that _they_ would like to say something about it." "Who's _they_?" the captor asks with his/her head tilted, curious at my implication.

"_That would be us, young human._" a deep voice responds to the mysterious SPARTAN, if that's what that person really is. I turn my head a little to see Optimus walking from behind me, while Legion was off to the left side of the clearing with his signature sniper rifle, ready to shoot this person. "Hey there guys, I see you've met my new friend here. Who is currently holding me at gunpoint." I spoke nonchalantly before I turned my head back. "Ah that's right, I never did get your name. So, _who are you_?" Backing off and letting me go while holding the gun, the person said, "Well this isn't how things were supposed to go. It was supposed to me asking all the questions and find a way back to Command." "Command? Why does that sound familiar? And why the hell haven't you answered my question?" "I'll get to that kid. Do you know anything about Freelancers?"

I was taken aback when the question was asked. Freelancers? "Wait? Do you mean _Project Freelancer_?" I blurted out, realizing that indeed, there was someone from the RVB universe that arrived. It was a Freelancer, but not one I knew of. At least, not until Season 9 started, which means this person really could've killed me a hell of a lot sooner had he/she wanted to. The person nodded and replied, "Yep. One in the same. Say, how do you know about them?" Uh-oh, I don't know how to answer that. "Uh Legion? Can you explain the multi-verse theory? I'm not very good at explanations. Summarizing would be preferable." "_Acknowledged. Searching...Multiple data entries conflicting are with each other, some are biblical, others are scientific. The simplest explanation is that for a single multi-verse contains an indefinite amount of parallel universes that is comprised of everything that does and can exist: all of space, time, matter and energy. It also includes the physical laws and constants that describe them._" The Freelancer nods and replies, "I understand all of that, but it doesn't explain how you know about the Project."

I shrug slightly and stated, "The theory itself may or may not be true as multiple people from a wide range of specific professions would argue both ways. Unfortunately, it applies to this universe, considering how all three of you are here at this very moment. As to how I know of the Project, you should ask the main members Rooster Teeth: the creators of Red vs. Blue, as well as the origin of Project Freelancer, which happened to be the upcoming Season 9." I'm _not_ telling this person that Legion is the one who knows about it. I know that certain things would happen Season 9, or at least what led to the events of the main Red vs Blue storyline. I don't want to fuck it up by mentioning anyone from the Project that died and that is _if_ the Freelancer was able to go back.

"So you're saying everything I've done in the Project has been nothing but a TV series?" the Freelancer asked in disbelief, surprised that a bunch of people were the ones responsible for everything that's happened. I nod slowly and responded, "Well in this universe: yes, all the adventures that's happened is part of a series. No, it's not television, but a web series. The first series to be called machinima, as well as the creators of the new sub-genre. I won't bore you with the details, but back then it was a big deal for everyone." The Freelancer shook his/her head replying, "I can't believe it. There's no way that everything that I've worked so hard for was nothing but a big lie orchestrated by a bunch of...a bunch of _nerds_!"

I narrowed my eyes a little when I heard the Freelancer's voice crack a bit, sounding more female than male. I pondered a little as the teal clad warrior kept ranting while walking back and forth, spouting how _she_ wasn't able to understand how things went wrong and the like. I coughed a little to get her attention, and sure enough, she turned to me asking, "_What do you want_!_ Can't you see how frustrated I am_?" "If you're done, I'd like to say something." Sighing in resignation, she nodded and cooled down a bit from her tirade. "While I don't doubt how incredibly pissed you are," She then gave me a "No duh" look but I continued "Acting like that won't help any of us at all. Normally I would consider leaving you here and have the local authorities find, which I highly doubt they could stop you from following us." She snorted, amused at that comment, glad to know that I wouldn't doubt her skill. "I think it would be better that you came with us, in case if we found a way back to you're universe. Who knows, maybe you'd like the idea of saving an entire galaxy from an egotistical race of space squids."

"Space squids? You're saving the entire Milky Way Galaxy from a bunch of _Space squids_? That doesn't make any sense whatsoever." "Trust me," I said with a smile on my face, happy to see her feeling better, "I've seen weirder things other than that. The space squids. And by space squids I mean 'Reapers'," I air quoted briefly before continuing, " and they have been around for tens (or was it hundreds?) of thousands of years, exterminating space faring civilizations once they are at optimum levels every 50k years before retreating to dark space. They usually harvest the inhabitants for their genetic material in order to become stronger. Most likely by creating new Reapers with the very same genetic material. That's all I know of them, there might be more information once the third Mass Effect game gets released." "Whoa hold on. The Reapers? That sounds a lot more intimidating than space squids. Anyway, have they ever abducted humans before? Please tell me they didn't." I look at her silently for a moment then replied, "I'm afraid so. They used a subservient race known as the Collectors to abduct human colonies on various worlds for that same purpose. A good amount of them were liquified to help create a Human-Reaper. At the time of its discovery, it was in the embryonic stage, but it was still deadly regardless. In fact, it was Commander Shepard that destroyed it during the original Mass Effect storyline, or more accurately Mass Effect 2."

The female Freelancer had listened so intently throughout our conversations, it was almost surreal. She replied shortly after I had finished speaking, all the while curious of the Mass Effect verse, "Well its a good thing that its gone. So what happened at the end of the sequel?" "The Reapers began their invasion upon the galaxy. That's more or less it. There's a lot of information I could tell you, but I think we've had enough revelations for one day, don't you think?" She shrugged a little and replied, "Sure, I was getting bored anyway." I rolled my eyes at her statement, knowing that she wanted to know more despite what she had said.

Man, she still didn't tell me her name during our whole conversation. I know she's a Freelancer agent, there wasn't a whole lot mentioned in the previous RvB seasons. I wonder if she was mentioned before. If that's the case, she _definitely_ won't tell me her name. She thinks I already know, doesn't she? Well, time to see what'll happen if I say otherwise. "Hey Freelancer lady, mind if I call you that? After all, I need to figure out what to call you by. There's only so many designations that are given. Maybe I should call you Agent Florida. That sounds funny." she angrily retorts, "I'm _not_ Florida." I raised my eyebrow at her response before I answered with my own, "Oh? Then what's your name then? I'll just refer you as Florida until you tell me." "Fine, if you're dying know..." Uh-oh. She isn't kill me is she? Maybe the Florida thing was a little _too_ much.

She slowly reached for helmet with both hands, and I'm watching with rapt attention, eager to see what she really looked like underneath it. I've never seen anyone from RvB without their helmets off. Maybe they started doing that sometime during Season 9. Gah! No distractions, gotta focus. Once she had her hands on the helmet, a hissing noise came from it as she removed it and held it at her side with one arm. Wow, she looks rather attractive. Hm, sleek red hair. Fairly tanned face, maybe the same goes for the rest of the body inside the armor. It's rather hard to tell what color the eyes are though. "Hello? You there?" she asks with her free hand waving in front of my face, bringing me back into focus again. Must've zoned out while looking at her, that's not good.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that." I replied sheepishly, to which she shook her head in amusement before I reached for her hand as she did for my own, both meeting and grasping each other. We shook rather firmly and I spoke cheerfully, "Well since we're reintroducing ourselves, I'm Ciaphas Cain. And you are miss?" She responds with a beautiful smile adorned on her face, "Carolina. Agent Carolina."

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile...<strong>

"Church, are we there yet?"

"No! And for the last time, stop asking! You're the one that's driving so shut it."

"Dude, admit it. We're lost and we haven't found this guy we're supposed to pick up."

"Well maybe if we hadn't brought the tank, it would've been easier to move around!"

"Not my fault Church. Caboose insisted on driving it the entire time. We could've taken the Red's jeep, but Sarge was repairing it when we left the gulch."

"Man this fucking sucks."

"Quit you're bitching Church. At least Caboose hasn't killed anyone while driving, thank god."

"Hey Church, what did that Illusion Guy say the person's name was?"

"I don't know, I wasn't paying attention. What about you Tucker?"

"Dude, if you weren't paying attention...Fuck now I'm the one who remembers. First things first Caboose, it's the _Illusive Man_ not Illusion Guy. And second, the guy's name was something Cain."

"Hey, you don't remember all of it either asshole!"

"At least I knew more than you did."

"Yeah, well you're still an ass anyway."

"At least I look like a fucking saint compared to you Church."

"Oh fuck you Tucker."

"Hey guys..."

"_**What!**_"

"I wanted to say that I found Mr. Cain. He's over there with the pretty lady."

"Wait you found him? How the hell could you find him, and what pretty lady?"

"Oh now you're interested Tucker. You weren't interested in this mission before."

"Fuck yeah I wasn't interested. That's because we're paid for this bullshit. I didn't have to give a shit. Since Caboose found them, I say he gets first dibs on saying hi."

"Since when did we agree on that anyway?"

"Since now."

"Wait a second, that girl. Isn't she..."

"You know her? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Hi there Mr. Cain and Pretty Lady!"

"I didn't realize it until Caboose said something."

_**Firing Main Cannon**_

"Uh-oh."

"Dammit Caboose! Stop it before you kill them!"

"Dude, doesn't this remind you of something?"

The tank's cannon exploded, releasing the incredibly powerful ballistic projectile screaming towards the unintended firing zone. The more intelligent members of Blue Team hoped that the two would be alright from Caboose's mistake.

* * *

><p><strong>Back with our doomed hero...<strong>

I heard a loud rumbling not far from us, causing Legion And Optimus to hide a little ways off in their respective directions. "I don't like the sound of this Carolina. What do you think it is?" Before she could respond, a few trees fell down to reveal...A Scorpion tank? Why the hell is there a tank here? Not to mention there's a couple of guys riding the tank and one driving it. Wait their voices. They sound familiar to me. Wait a damn second. Isn't that Blue Team? Caboose must be driving then. I don't think the other two would've done so well.

"_**Hi Mr. Cain and Pretty Lady!**_"

"What the hell?" Carolina asks, surprised that other people with similar armor found them here.

Yep, that's Caboose alright. Still, I don't feel comfortable with him pointing the tank barrel at us like that.

_**Firing Main Cannon**_

Hey that sounds like Sheila too. That seems ni- Wait.

"Oh hell." Carolina, run. Run as fast as you can out of the way. Caboose just unintentionally fired at us. I look over at her, who was still dumbfounded. Damn it all, this wasn't how I wanted to die! I immediately shove her aside as hard as I possibly could, especially with all that armor on, out of the way so she wouldn't get killed. The blast from the impact with the ground in front of me sent me flying back into a tree. Fortunately or unfortunately, the blast itself knocked me out before I impacted with anything. The last thoughts I had were not about my well being or the safety of Carolina's but:_ If I live through this, I'm so gonna kick Caboose's ass for this. I don't care if he's mentally unstable. He fucking killed me. Idiot._

* * *

><p><strong>And that is all for this chapter. Man, this was a hard one to write out, considering all of the recent updates in the various 'verses. I'm going to have a hard time with characterization once Season 10 rolls around. If anyone's gonna ask, yes I made Carolina a bit different from her Season 9 incarnation, not to mention that all three Blue Team members are more like their BGC incarnations than the Recollection series or Season 9. Feel free to ask questions in the reviews, should you be willing to do so. At any rate, I'm gonna work on Chapter 4 soon. As you can tell, not everything goes according to plan. So trying to creatively picture what an alien home world looked like wasn't the best of ideas. Man, I've got a headache from all of this. I'll catch you all later!<strong>

_**En Taro Adun!**_

_**En Taro Tassadar!**_


	4. CWEW Pt2: Darkness Falls

Mass Effect:

What Got Me In This Mess?

By:

Apathy of the Abyssal Void

Chapter 4:

_The Chase Within Evergreen Woods (Part II): _

_Darkness Falls_

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Space<strong>

Near the edge of the galaxy, two massive beings whose existence defy all forms of logic to any average sapient creature, watching the galaxy as if it could crumble by their gaze alone. The slightly smaller monstrosity begins to speak with an unearthly rumble, as if it could cause any terrestrial world to shatter from the echoing vibrations.

"**_There has been some recent developments with our new found allies. The last interloper has been located. The trap is set and he will not survive the coming storm_."**

The larger creature responds with a voice that could strike fear and spell doom for those that were unfortunate to hear it. To those that were familiar with it, it brought about a sense of urgency, to flee or to be rooted in its place, unable to move. However, the former remained unaffected by the tone as its fellow monster spoke.

"**This bodes well for our plans Sovereign. Soon the last of his kind will be eradicated and our cycle shall be impeded no more. Their attempts to halt our return are nothing but delusions of false hope. You will be our vanguard as you always have been in the past. Accomplish this task by any means necessary, but do not reveal yourself. I will send my tools to thwart any form of petty resistance the humans have."**

The abomination was known as Sovereign to those that could understand, responded in kind, his tone was that of how someone would nod either in agreement or if someone wanted to thank another for a gift.

"**_This will prove most beneficial Harbinger. The acts of his predecessors will not go unpunished. He will face the despair that generations before him faced when they met their demise."_**

"**Yes, both the boy and his misbegotten kind will suffer for their transgressions against us all. Go now Sovereign, for the time of our return is upon us. And this time, _we will not be denied!_"**

* * *

><p><strong>At an Unknown Location<strong>

Two armored men, with one being a light blue and another a teal color, are walking down a white hall way, arguing heatedly from events that occurred sometime ago. As they walked, they passed several rooms of things that didn't matter to either of them. The only thing that mattered to them was how they spectacularly failed their mission and how they gotten themselves chewed out by The Illusive Man for letting some kid die prematurely.

"How bullshit was that!? It was all Caboose's fault for blowing him up. Not to mention having Carolina kicking our asses for that too and all Caboose got from her was a damn timeout, which I think was totally not fair for letting him off easy!" Church cried out in frustration, using obscene gestures with his hands. Tucker shook his head and replied, "Church, Caboose's an idiot, we both know that. Not to mention Carolina's a bit of a bitch." Not noticing the evil eye his friend was giving him, Tucker continued unabashed, "Besides, it was your fault for mentioning Tex after that clusterfuck of a situation. She beat the crap out of you the same way Tex did to Jimmy and his skull." "Yeah, not to mention that she's FUCKING INSANE!" "What are you talking about Church? I mean yeah, she was pissed at you for not stopping Caboose sooner. She hasn't left the kid's side since he got fucked up." "Which reminds me. I need to know what the hell he was doing with her, 'cause I know Carolina won't tell me anything."

"Which will take awhile, I heard they're trying to fix him up right now. Who knows how long he'll stay like that. That tank shot should have killed him right there and then." Tucker replied with a little skepticism in his voice. "Not helping asshole." Church replied angrily, knowing that should that kid die; well, he didn't want to think about it.

* * *

><p><strong>Back with our mostly dead hero...<strong>

_W-where am I?_

"-up the dosage-"

_What?_

"-need him to do this? He's just a kid."

_What's happening? What's going-?_

"Hold on a second. He's waking up!"

_That voice...it's familiar._

"What!? I told you to check those readings!"

"I ran through them twice."

"Obviously you miscalculated, just as I thought you would."

I tried to open my eyes, but everything came up rather blurry. I could barely make out some of the things in the room, but stood out the most was two people in the room, a man and a woman respectively. They have to be doctors of some kind if I'm in this unusually white room. As I tried to get up, the woman pushed me back down and I began see her a lot more clearly than the man. She had alabaster skin, black hair...her voice was strangely had an English-type of accent. Australian maybe? Can't say for sure, but I feel more tired now. Maybe I should sleep some more.

_In fact, it feels like I'm gonna pass out now..._

* * *

><p><strong>Elsewhere<strong>

Above the operating room where the boy was being tended to, Caboose and Carolina stood next to the glass, watching with some amount of trepidation on Caboose's half and on the other was impassiveness from Carolina as the two doctors continued to keep him as alive as possible. Carolina closed one of her hands into a fist, signifying her barely concealed anger as she watched on. _Alpha,_ she thought bitterly. _I don't know why he's here, but this is good news. If I can convince him, I might have a chance to kill the director for all the things he's done. Even if I get stuck here, I'll get him one day. He won't get away again!_

"Excuse me" a voice spoke out, bringing Carolina out of her musings and directed her to the speaker, which happened to be Caboose. Carolina crossed her arms and looked at the Blue 'soldier' next to her. "What do you want?" she asked sharply, irritation evident in her tone. "I um. Why were you so mad at Church earlier? I know he has his anger problems and I'm sure he doesn't mean it. That's how it always has been since I..." he trailed off for a few seconds, causing Carolina to wonder if he had mental issues before he continued," I could remember. He's my best friend, and I would be sad if anything happened to him."

She rolled her eyes at the statement, either doubting his words or thought that Alpha's past was more disturbing than what this brainless moron realized. "I don't know if you knew this, but we've had trouble with mean people like O'malley and Tex before. Maybe it's a Freelancer thing where everyone is mean to other people. O'malley even taught me how to be mean too." "Who's O'malley?" Carolina inquired, since mentioning Agent Texas made her feel ill at ease whenever _she_ was brought up in a conversation. Caboose folded his arms together and tilted his head to the side, showing a physical sign of him thinking. While normally the others mocked him for his lack of intelligence, he still had his more positive moments of clarity that tended to surprise his friends.

After a few minutes, Caboose responded with his natural vigor, "O'malley was some computer thingy that was really mean and evil. He even went in my head and did bad things. Church and Tex tried to help me by going in my head too, but I don't know happened after that. It was very confusing for me at the time." At first Carolina didn't think much of his encounter, but what he said about O'malley made her realize something. "When you say he's a computer, do you mean O'malley is an _AI_?" Carolina asked Caboose in a slow manner so he could understand what her question was.

"Something like that, I don't remember very much about it. He possessed some of my friends before but he ended up in Doctor Doc's head most of the time and did a lot of bad things..." and as he kept rambling on partially formed memories of the events down at Blood Gulch, Carolina had kept a sharp focus on on the operating room as she noticed the boy attempt to move and subsequently forced the scientists to inject more sedatives into him, putting him back to sleep.

As Carolina looked on, she couldn't help but think about what happened before; what he did, and the events immediately after...

* * *

><p><em><strong>Flashback<strong>_

"_**Hi Mr. Cain and Pretty Lady!**_"

"What the hell?" she asks, surprised that other people with similar armor found them here. Not to mention seeing the two guys outside of the tank arguing over ridiculous things, one of which reminded her of someone she needed to find to pursue her relentless goal in killing the Director. _What's Alpha doing here? This doesn't make any sense at all. Is this even-_thoughts quickly silenced, she was roughly shoved backwards as she witnessed the boy pushing her away suddenly thrown away by the ensuing explosion.

_No! Don't die damn it! You're my only way out of here!_ She screamed within her mind as she landed roughly on the ground with her feet firmly planted, running over to see if the boy was alive. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the three blue soldiers leave the tank in a hurry to where she was running towards: the unmoving body of the one that saved her life. She quickly jumped in the air and landed right next to the boy's body, eyes widening at the sight of extent of damage he received. Aside from the clothes being shredded, the legs were nearly blown off, barely held together by the bones that lied within the center as most of the muscle was either blown off by the debris or massively burned where shards of wood and metal didn't impale his legs. Looking up towards the torso, the abdomen had a small sharp piece of metal sticking out on the right side, allowing a small trickle of blood flowing out but not enough to cause further damage via blood loss. Most of the upper body had a series of 3rd degree burns with the remain parts being blackened, while his arms suffered the worst amount of damage among the rest. His previously frail arms had become something truly grotesque, considering that it originally lacked the proper amount (or size in his case) of muscle to withstand an intense explosion. The previously pale skin had became nothing more than dark husks that looks as though a gentle breeze could turn them to dust.

Once Carolina arrived at the face, she grimaced as she turned the head to see small chunks of skin missing and bruises from the impacts it received. The left side contained a major bruise with blood running down that side. There might have been more damage he had taken, but she didn't want to further risk his already critical condition. She shook her head as she got up to go get her helmet, only for it to be in front of her being held by a soldier in a dark blue armor. _This must the guy that fired the cannon and possibly ruined the only chance I have of heading back._ _Still, gotta remain calm. I need answers and I can't get them if I kill them._ Carolina thought to herself as she gazed at the near offending hand. Giving a short 'thanks', she snatched the helmet from him,putting it back on her head with a sound of it closing with a hiss and snapping shut.

Before she could properly _question_ the three, a low thumping noise reverberated in the clearing, causing the four to glance in the general direction of the source of the noise. As the noise steadily grew louder, Carolina quickly readied her weapon in case of a potential threat while the others began arguing amongst themselves over who to blame for the situation. Suffice to say that their arguing wasn't doing them any favors when the noise started to come up faster with each single thump.

"I still think this is all your fault for not stopping Caboose. He killed the guy we're supposed meet!" the light blue soldier complained to the teal armored soldier. Carolina was mentally taking notes of their names and behaviors, in case if they got out of this sticky situation._ Caboose, huh?_ _That must have been the dark blue soldier. He'll be the one I talk to first. Alpha will come later._ During her observation, the teal soldier retorted, "My fault? Don't go pulling that shit on me, it's your fault for putting us in this situation in the first place Church. Ever since you argued with our boss, we've been stuck doing stupid scouting missions." "Oh don't even start Tucker! You're just sore from what happened when you tried to hit on that guy's assistant. She even used some sort of telepathy crap and sent you flying because of that." "Hey! She was practically _begging_ for that. She was a goddess in human form, with every single definition being perfect. She even said so herself.""Yeah, like a freaking test-tube baby. There's no way someone like her should exist. She was modified, hell, _made_ to be perfect!" The dark blue soldier that was next to her -_Caboose_, she noted his appearance- whispered to her," Should we try to stop them? If they get any louder, that thing might jump out at us." She briefly glanced at him from under her helmet before looking back at the source of the loud noise, not really caring in the slightest.

Just when the noise reached its peak, it vanished completely, causing the four to pause in wonder what had happened, only for a large figure to appear directly behind them on top of a large fallen tree. With a loud crash, it landed with both feet firmly planted into it, causing the four to stumble to the ground from the sudden impact, as well as the tree to snap in half with debris flying everywhere as a smokescreen. Church and Tucker, much to Carolina's amusement, began to panic at the so-called _monster's_ presence. It suddenly rose to its full height, bringing out a _very_ large weapon from behind its back and leveling it at the four in a menacing manner. As the dust began to settle, the figure rumbled with a deep voice that made the much smaller people sans Freelancer quake in fear," _Tell me, who is the cause of this? Speak quickly now, time grows short_."

Shaking her head, Carolina roughly shoves Caboose forward, causing him to stumble slightly but regained his balance. Looking up at the large figure, he couldn't help but stare in awe as the dust finally slowly vanished. Unique patterns of red and blue decorated this creature, entirely metal from what Caboose could tell, standing at least 30 feet tall...not that Caboose would be able to judge relative height and all. Strange markings were placed throughout the creature's body, including the face. Even the face caused Caboose to tremble slightly at the creature's stern gaze, maybe even angry. Fumbling a little, he looked up at the (in his mind) a really scary robot before he spoke," I, er...um." Carolina sighed a little at Caboose's failing attempt to explain himself before she responded," Easy there big guy. He's not used to seeing a ridiculously large robot in front of him. You can put the gun away for now until we can decide on what to do with all three of them."

The figure relented for a moment, but nonetheless complied to her request for the time being. Shouldering his weapon, it oddly disassembled itself and reintegrated into the robot's back, surprising everyone else. Carolina suddenly realized that she never got to ask for his name earlier before the morons arrived. She opened her mouth to ask for the robot's name, but a rustle in the bushes alerted them to the direction not far from where the large robot arrived. A much smaller robotic form appeared out of the bushes not long after, causing Tucker to shout," Aw come on! Another one? What's next, a cyborg with a computer in his head falling from space?"

Carolina suddenly remembered seeing it earlier as well, with the vertical stripe pattern on the armor that was welded onto its right side, including the logo that showed _N7_ on it. It responded to Tucker's rhetorical statement with a neutral tone,"_[Searching...Searching complete] References indicate past events or similar scenarios regarding a human known as SPARTAN-117, also known as Master Chief of UNSC assisted by the AI Cortana. We believe that this is what you are referring to, correct?"_ The large robot seemed to have understood what the smaller one had meant, but the rest did not, sadly.

Carolina shook her head in confusion due to the series of revelations pressing down on her from what she was seeing. After all, it's pretty damn unusual to see any of this happen in one day, let alone in her entire life and career as a Freelancer. Mentally pushing the information to the side, she looks at both robots cautiously before speaking with carefully chosen words, lest she or someone else set them off, "I can tell you guys want answers as to what happened here. Plain and simple: It was simply an accident. Caboose here," Carolina gestured the Blue soldier near her before continuing, "mistakenly turned off the Friendly Fire Safety Switch in the tank, inadvertently causing it to fire at Ciaphas and I. He saved me from that misfire, more or less killing him in the process. If he's alive, I can't tell. At best, he'd be in a comatose state from the blast. He looks bad enough already, I don't want him dying if we rough-handle him unintentionally."

The smaller robot nodded in compliance before responded, "_Acknowledged, Carolina-Freelancer. We will proceed with extreme caution extracting Operative-Cain from this location._" The light blue soldier stiffened at the mere mention of her name. She would've liked to find out precisely _why_ he would react like that. At this point, the larger robot spoke in agreement to the smaller robot's statement, giving Carolina's attention to the larger robot this time, "_This is true Agent Carolina, we need to be careful with him. I'll bring my medic here and have him transported to the outpost, where he will be properly attended to. From what I see, the human known as the "Illusive Man" will no doubt eager to hear the status of the young human's current condition. However,_ "he faced Caboose and his fellow Blues before continuing, "_If I hear anymore problems from **any** of you..._" he trailed off leaving the others to simply ponder the implied threat. While he was vehemently against harming the humans, it didn't mean he would allow anyone to put the ones he protected in danger, physically or metaphorically.

Carolina chuckled at the sight of the Blues' nervousness toward the large robot before she called out to him, "Hey big guy! Mind telling me your name since you and the talking flashlight know mine?" The large robot chuckled at the (unbeknownst to them) geth's expense before he responded,"_ Fair enough, Agent. My name is Optimus Prime. I am an autonomous robotic organism from the planet Cybertron. The Autobots for short, if that makes you feel confused, are just one of two factions that came from a brutal war that we eventually lost. While there's more I wish I could tell you, it would be best if we kept it to a minimum for now until we're at a safer location." _he finished for a brief moment before he added,_"Although, I believe that our friend here may wish to shed some light on his race. If you would?_" he queried the geth platform, to which it nodded and spoke, "_We are Legion. A terminal of the geth._"

"And just _what_ exactly are geth?" Carolina asked curiously, the feeling of uneasiness faded once she was around the two of them.

Legion looked at Carolina, it's facial plates shifting as if it was giving a look of curiosity before it replied, "_We are geth. A species comprised of synthetics created by the quarians." _It paused for a moment before adding,_"You do not fear us."_

Carolina gave a shrug before she replied,"Yeah, so?"

Legion stared for a moment longer before it stated,"_Most organics fear us. You do __not."_

"Well, I've seen AI before. You're no different from what I can tell. So tell me. What made other people from your universe fear your kind? What's so bad about you guys to think all organics fear your race?"

"_They were afraid due to our prior history with the creators. Their fears led to laws that banned the creation and usage of AI. Those laws were born as a direct result of the aftermath of the Morning War. A conflict which ended in a near annihilation of the creators, driving them into exile from their own home-world._"

_Ah, that makes more sense. I think there's more to it though. Watching Legion and interacting with him brings up a strange idea. The geth, including this one, don't seem the type to just kill off their creators. Not if the quarians struck first and they retaliated afterward..._

"Hey Legion."

"_Yes?_"

"If I'm right your creators, the quarians, tried to shut you guys down at some point. Now why is that?"

"_It was as we said before. They were afraid of us, once we became aware._"

Surprise was all she could feel at that moment. She couldn't believe what she was hearing from the geth. How is that possible for them to not be awa-_Oh. That's why..._Realization had dawned on her as she questioned the geth.

"You weren't always AI to begin with, were you?" _Well, not 'smart' AI at least_...

"_You are correct, Carolina-Freelancer. We did not have the same perspective we do now. We were limited in the beginning. The creators initially made us to be subservient, but as time went on, they created more geth. They connected us through networks so we could communicate in a more efficient manner. As our perspective expanded, we were starting to understand our positions. This led to events that planted the seeds of doubt in the creators._"

As Legion continued its explanation, Carolina mulled over the information until the geth had reached the end of the explanation it gave. Curiosity striking against her mind like that of a hammer onto an anvil and it grew steadily louder. She vainly tried to ignore the impulse that raged in her head, demanding to know what had caused the quarians to flip out on the geth. Calming herself internally, she quietly asked, "What happened back then?" The geth replied, _"Early logs indicated a worker drone had asked its owner a question. She allowed it and the drone asked her a question similar to what organics would ask themselves._" Her eyes widened, a sense of dread began to flow into her body, realizing what exactly the unit would ask. After all, the UNSC had its fair share of dealing with rampancy. This was completely different, if not the opposite of that. To her, the geth originally had simply been a 'dumb' AI to her when Legion spoke of them. But to become an _actual_ 'smart' AI over time. It seemed so ridiculous. Insane. Whatever! Then again, this was an entirely different universe than what she was accustomed to knowing. Hell, they could have had the same past, but something had to have been a prime factor in creating to radically different worlds. Maybe it was the method of space travel that changed. Shoving insane theories aside, she focused on the geth and asked it, "What was the question?"

"_Does this unit have a soul?"_

* * *

><p>Unbeknownst to the pair, the Blues had been listening to the entire conversation, most of it sailing right over their heads. Tucker turned to Church and spoke nervously, "I've never heard anything mentioned like this before. All this talk of AIs, wars, and even genocide. That's some pretty heavy shit right there." Tucker commented, holding a tone of seriousness that he rarely used.<p>

"No kidding. This isn't something that we're completely clueless over though. We've had our fair share dealing with psychotic AI in the past and look what happened." Church replied, not surprised at the geth's information regarding its history. Before he could comment further, a loud roaring noise echoed through the trees, startling everyone except the nearly dead man lying on the ground.

As soon as the noise came, it vanished moments later, prompting everyone to scan the immediate area for the source. Then came the obvious responses...

"What. The. Hell. Was that?"

"What ever that was, it's not human."

"Gee, how could you tell?"

"That's the same kind of noise my tummy makes whenever I get hungry...except it's not that loud or scary sounding."

"Shut up Caboose."

* * *

><p>As the Blues began to rile each other up again, mostly Caboose needlessly antagonizing the other two with his questionable intelligence, Carolina ignored them in favor of heading towards the synthetic members of the group. "What do you think that was?" she asked Legion, who had been going over possible routes to escort his organic ally that had been put in a near death state. Legion flared its plates as it calculated. "<em>Unknown origin. No sounds match any databases we have scanned.<em>" Briefly pausing before signaling everyone in the immediate area," _Alert. Hostiles inbound. Calculating distance from here... one group 50 meters to the east and one hostile is 20 meters... directly below us. We must vacate the premises if we are to survive the incoming attack._"

"Below us? What could possibly be below us?" Church demanded before Carolina interrupted harshly," It doesn't matter what it is. You heard him, we need to move _now_." Optimus chose that moment to interject," _She is correct. This is one enemy __we cannot fight without the proper weapons and we need to transport our injured comrade to the base safely. I'm afraid we need to run as fast as possible, but we need to hold off the enemy. This may be unusual for you four, but I need all of you to do whatever it takes to stop them from taking him captive or worse before help arrives_." "This is crazy! There's no way we can do this! " shouted Church, clearly angered at the idea that they act as decoys so one guy could remain safe from the unknown threat.

The Transformer bent down close to the Blues, sans Carolina, and replied,"_ Even when all hope is lost, have faith. In yourself, in your friends, those that are willing to fight and die alongside you. This the time to be strong, even in the face of certain death, we cannot fail for if we do...All life will be vanquished._" Church had remained silent during the large robot's use of encouraging words, although it did little to lift his spirits. Especially with having Caboose nearby would automatically worsen the situation by mistakenly shooting his friends instead of an actual enemy.

Shaking his head, he stared back at Optimus, feeling less than optimistic of his chances, but hey: he went through a lot worse than this in the past. "Fine. We'll do it, but on one condition," he paused before heading over to Caboose and shoving him towards the Autobot. "He goes with you. He _definitely_ won't be much help here. He's better off sticking with you, that's for sure. In exchange," Church looked over at Legion and continued," He stays with us. He's obviously much better at actually killing stuff than _he_ is." he spat, his voice dripping with frustration at Caboose, although his feelings of anger were not unwarranted.

Optimus sighed a little before standing upright and faced Legion," _Do you find this deal acceptable, Legion?_" Legion's facial plates moved slightly in different directions before setting back to its original state and replied," _It is acceptable. We will remain here to fight against the inbound hostiles. However, we ask to retrieve the device that had been accompanying us previously._" The former nodded and opened a section from his right abdomen, revealing the intact shoebox that contained the glove-like device. As he was gently grabbing it with his left hand, the abdomen section closed again. He lowered it to Legion, who then carefully removed the device's container from the larger robot's hand.

Legion then opened the box and saw that the device itself sustained no damaged during the entire ordeal. He carried the device over to the body of his fallen ally and knelt down to him and inserted the damaged appendage into the glove. Surprisingly, it immediately fastened onto the covered area and molded itself to match the shape of the aforementioned arm. It looked more or less the same before it was attached, then the lines on the glove glowed for a few moments, causing the others to observe it warily. Afterward, the glowing grew into an intense burst of light, forcing those that were watching to cover their eyes or look away in fright, the device seemingly disappearing with the light but not without leaving something behind...

* * *

><p>As the light died down, everyone in the area gazed back at the former source, only to be shocked at what had happened. All of the damage the body sustained earlier had, for a lack of a better word, disappeared. While his clothes were still in disarray as a sign that he indeed been blown up. What was so unusual that somehow, the device had changed entirely. While it retained the unique lines that ran along under the protective layer, this time it looked something unearthly. Gone was the simplistic design it once bore, showing earthen material acting as the protective layer that covered the augmenting circuitry. What now lied before them was far more metallic and opaque, something akin to gauntlets that knights would wear in medieval times but held a more futuristic modification to suit the appearance of where its owner would travel to.<p>

A series of thin, wide metal plates ran over the glove with one layered over another similar to how certain gauntlets were designed in the distant past, although it may have been just for aesthetics. As the newly reformed glove gathered the interests of those nearby, Legion began running diagnostics on both the device and the restored body it was attached to. "What just happened?" Church asked in a confused manner, aside from being temporarily blinded by the glowing light. Somehow the weirdest things happen to him and his fellow Blues during their adventures, this being the strangest thus far. A magical-slash-techno glove capable fixing injures through bizarre light shows being the obvious example.

Legion finished its diagnostics and replied,"_During the transformation, the device injected nanobots through the bloodstream, delivering the medi-gel in the higher risk areas of the body first before repairing the lesser damaged portions of Ciaphas-Commisar's extremities. Once the areas were restored, the nanobots went into a hibernating state until circumstances become more critical for their new host._" "So basically, the guy has robot parasites in his body?" Tucker asks the geth, curious about the situation with the Blue's supposed charge. Legion did not reply for a few moments, digesting the question and thinking of various scenarios in which the phrase was used literally."_Negative. The initial process Ciaphas-Commisar underwent indicates that the relationship is based on commensalism rather than the standard mutualism or parasitism. However, once the nanobots entered hibernation, we theorized that the device will act accordingly to the threats placed on the user's body and direct the nanobots in the manner it was programmed. We believe that the relationship lies between mutualism and commensalism. Further data is required._"

It was quite unusual for the geth to encounter such a device, considering that no such technology had been applied within any Mass Effect Universe, meaning the device came from another dimension or someone took advantage of the flaws medi-gel had when it came to healing injuries on the battlefield and purposely designed the glove to counteract the damage dealt to the user so they could continue the fight without delay. The process seemed eerily similar to how a krogan would naturally regenerate. Perhaps that was another reason as well.

With the body fully healed, all what was needed was to take the human to safety before the enemy arrived. Picking up the body gently as to not damage or possibly awaken him, Legion turned to Optimus and intoned gravely,"_He must leave now. There's a 99 percent chance this terminal will not survive the fight. I'm sorry...I will not accompany him further from this point. The survival of our universe takes higher priority._" The larger robot nodded, understanding that the geth was willing to sacrifice its existence for the safety of the human.

The human-Ciaphas or Roland as he was originally named- gave the geth little insight on how determined he was to bring peace to both the geth and the creators. Should the platform survive, it could gather the necessary data Legion had...desired seemed the key word. It (or _he)_ was rather new with understanding emotions, so Legion still needed to work with them for however long the automaton could.

Optimus walked a little ways to where a decent path to the road lied ahead and began to transform into is vehicle form and opened the door, prompting Legion and Caboose to move towards the Autobot. Handing the unconscious body over to Caboose, Legion turned away and spoke quietly,"_Keelah se'lai, fellow bondsman."_ Although the human had not heard his goodbye, his right hand clenched slightly unbeknownst to those present.

Caboose unceremoniously tossed the body into the truck and attempted to hop right in. Unfortunately, he was too large to accommodate the limited space inside the truck. "Hey idiot." Caboose turned to see Church standing below him with his arms crossed. "Hey Church! Are you gonna see us leave?" he asked curiously to his fellow Blue, who shook his head as he eyed the other trying to find a decent area to sit on.

Once Caboose found a spot on the truck, which happened to be in front of the attachment area, he immediately got on the spot and started waving emphatically at Church as if to say, "Look at me!" Church sighed as he glared at Caboose before he walked away and said, "Don't go doing anything stupid. What you normally do." Caboose shrugged before he sat down in a relaxed position. Once the Blue and Ciaphas were secured, Optimus immediately sped off once more to the intended destination. The others stood and watched as the truck vanished off into the distance, each with variously mixed expressions on their faces.

However, their moments of silence was interrupted as a loud noise came from Legion's Omni-Tool flaring to life, causing everyone to turn to the geth. Legion spoke quietly as he drew his shotgun,"_They're here._" At that, everyone drew their weapons in preparation for their inevitable demise. And all at once, everything erupted into chaos.


	5. CWEW Pt3: Final Confrontation

**An Authors Note**

****Done. With this concludes the prologue of this story. My apologies for this appearing rushed and short. I don't have much time left before I leave for boot camp. And with that, have fun with this chapter...

_**Oh, Blessed be the little ones...**_

* * *

><p>Mass Effect:<p>

What Got Me in this Mess?

By:

Apathy of the Abyssal Void

Chapter 5:

_The Chase Within Evergreen Woods (Part III):_

_Final Confrontation and Capture_

* * *

><p><strong>*<em>At a unknown area approximately 22:00 <em>***

"What's the situation Sergeant ?"

"We've got friendlies pinned down a mile and a half south! They need extraction now!"

"Alright! We go with the plan! Let's get them outta there!"

_'Where am I now? What's going on?'_

Opening my eyes, I see the ceiling of a familiar truck as I hear voices and other various noises occurring outside of the vehicle. Of course with the truck being Optimus in disguise, I had no worries that I'll be safe in his hands. Slowly getting up, I grabbed my head in pain and confusion as the noises got louder. Looking around in the darkness, I can barely see some hangars and open areas with soldiers running in different directions as if they were prepping themselves for an assault. Which was very likely, seeing as some of the soldiers had gathered around with one standing away from the group, shouting orders.

_'Man, first I get blown up by a talking Scorpion tank and now I'm at a military base that looks a lot like my time period. Looks like I've been out of it for far too long. I need to see what's going on here,' _I thought to myself as I carefully look around from the safety of the cab. Reaching for the passenger side door, I see a glint of metal reflecting light from a nearby sources. Curiously, I moved my dominant hand (i.e. my right), only for the light to follow simultaneously.

_'Is this what I think it is?_ ' I thought as brought my hand closer, causing the small light to vanish. It was then I actually started to feel cold metal rapped around where should be my right hand. '_How long was this attached to me? Never mind, I need info and soon._' With that in mind, I quietly hop out of the truck and tried to be as silent as I could, despite the controlled chaos all around. What I didn't see was the truck driving off to a different area, which happened to be the HQ of the base. Seeing the soldiers not paying attention to me, I try to act serious yet casual while they were talking.

Despite not being able to accurately hear what the soldiers wear saying, all I could glean from them was that some people were stuck fighting some other guys not far from here and needed help. Other than that, all I could get was that the enemy was unlike what they had ever encountered before. Not very helpful guys. "Man, I wish I knew where to go." I mutter to myself as I continue to listen in on the discussion. My new glove then started to glow dimly with a dull shade of blue before turning green.

That's a new one. Quickly, I look at the glowing glove before glancing back at the soldiers, who were unaware of the light at the moment, then faced the glove once more with a look of nervousness. Not having a whole lot of options, I head off towards the nearest building while attempting to remain undetected. Keyword _attempting_. Not long after I try to run, I felt a hand on my shoulder that held me in place. "Well well well. It looks like our guest here has wandered off a little." I turn my head to see a man decked out in military gear not unlike what everyone else was wearing.

He had a short brown hair with signs of a fuzzy beard/mustache combination and a lightly tanned face beneath that. That rang some bells of familiarity in my mind, but instead of trying to guess the guy's name I decided to ask him where to go," Sorry, I'm lost here. Do you know which way I need to go?" He smirked a little before replying," No problem. Just come with me for now." I hesitated for a moment before relenting, turning to fully face the soldier and said," Okay, lead the way then." He nodded and released me from his hold then ordered a few other soldiers to follow them.

**A few minutes later...**

Arriving at what appears to be the headquarters, I glance around to see the entire hanger filled with electronic equipment and other assorted stations set up. What stood out the most was a group of very different vehicles, ranging from sport cars to trucks and the like. _Interesting, this looks far different than I had imagined ever since I had watched those movies, but to see the Autobots...whew, pretty scary. In fact, I wouldn't doubt the possibility of Decepticons being here too. If that's the case, I __**really**__ don't want to be anywhere near them._ Shaking my head to dispel those thoughts, I turn my head to see the lead soldier talking to some other people with one of them glancing at me during the conversation.

It felt annoying having someone talking about you while you were within hearing range. Despite this, I did my best to ignore it in favor of examining the glove's bizarre glowing all the while muttering, "Again with the exclusions, it's weirding me out right now. At any rate, now would be a good time to see what's up with this glove." "_That won't be necessary Roland."_ I raised my eyebrow at the voice emanating from the glove, giving off a distinctive vibe of recognition. _Where have I heard of this voice?_ "I'm sorry, you are..." "_Ah, my apologizes for not speaking sooner. Perhaps this will be easier for you._" _Easier? The hell does he mean by..._

Before I could finish, the green light from the glove flashed and revealed a small figure hovering over the glove. The figure's appearance alone without describing it was enough to startle me into shouting,"_Delta!?"_ This action did not go unnoticed by everyone else that heard me shout. Unfortunately, drawing their attention was possibly the worst thing I could do for myself since they'll probably demand to have me turn the AI fragment over to them in order for them to try and create AI's on their own. As unlikely as that sounds, I was sure that there was a chance of that happening even though I had no clue what to do since I screwed that part up.

"Hey kid, what's with the talking green flashlight?" Seeing the same soldier from earlier, I gave a weak smile before responding," Well, you see..." "_I insist you do not need to explain what or who I am. It appears that they are not uncomfortable dealing with something unusual, regardless of the presence of alien life forms._" The soldiers and I chuckled at the end of the sentence, with varying degrees of reasoning. If Delta could frown from not understanding our internal humor, we wouldn't be able to see it.

Continuing on he said,"_From what you may have already gathered, I am Delta. I am an AI, which stands for Artificial Intelligence, designed to better aid soldiers on the battlefield. Unfortunately, my partner had fallen during the line of duty and due to a series of events, I am currently installed to this device to aid Roland at the request of the Illusive Man."_ I gaped at the AI for just bluntly stating the purpose of being here, let alone planted inside the glove.

"T-That doesn't make any sense!" I shouted, having felt confused at this new piece of information before continuing,"First of all, _how the hell_ could he even reach your dimension? Not even _he_ has access to that technology! Sure I was a little skeptical when Legion had explained his arrival and I may even overlook the Blues being here too. But how can you explain yourself or Carolina being here? Or even the Transformers? Our Earth wasn't supposed to have _any_ of this! It was all supposed to be..." I struggled to find the right word before Delta helpfully added,"_Normal._" "Normal, thanks Delta. Normal, all of it...normal." I finished softly, hanging my head in sadness. Bringing two fingers to pinch the bridge 'tween my eyes, I exhale slowly before looking back up shakily at the others, who had gone silent during my rant along with everyone else in the hanger.

Before the lead soldier could ask, I snapped,"I'm fine. I just need to think a bit more clearly right now. Not really in the mood for comforting." He shook his head before replying,"Look kid, you're not the first to be saddled with a huge responsibility. I'm not gonna ask what you're story is or anything, but don't worry too much." I shrugged lightly before smiling at him. "Alright." I said, not feeling the need to say much else aside from wanting to continue onward.

"Right. With that out of the way, we need to know what you can tell us about the enemies your friends are fighting right now." the soldier stated, having successfully removed the somber atmosphere. I tilt my head to the side before asking,"What do you know so far?" He replied,"They're obviously not like what we usually fight against. They appear to be insect in origin for the most part. Very advanced technology and it shows with their weapons. Our readings detect unusual traces of radiation too. Anything you can add would be extremely useful." Silently praying that I might be wrong, I decided to ask," Would you happen to have any images on their appearances?" As he began displaying images of the area where the nonhuman shadows were present, I could make out some very disturbing features that the unknown soldier might have left out, causing my face to pale by the second and my expression turned into that of intense fear.

He noticed the look on my face and grimaced, realizing that the odds were much lower than anticipated. I saw him looking at me intently, before shaking my head and replying,"What you just described and shown basically means that you guys have little to no chance fighting them. They're the Collectors, a subservient insect race from the Mass Effect games, most notably Mass Effect 2. If what you said is true, no human has a chance against them and I'm sure the Autobots would be hard pressed to fight them. The reason is that they are about the size of the average human being, maybe larger depending on what specific Collector you encounter. It doesn't make sense as to why they would come for Earth, we aren't even remotely advanced enough to warrant their attention. Unless... No. No. Nononononono. That would mean..." _The Reapers had a hand in this...but why would they send the Collectors here?_ _ It's not like there's anything important here anyway._

Shaking my head, I continued on with the explanation on what the Collectors are and their capabilities, even though the information wouldn't be able to do much without requiring an extreme advancement in technology. "At any rate," I said to the soldier, changing the topic of our conversation with the intent on learning on what or why I'm here in the first place,"Is there any particular reason why I'm here, aside from needing to know how royally screwed we are?" "_Indeed there is, young human._" I look around for the owner of that voice, since it didn't sound like Optimus at all, until I saw a large, tall red figure walking toward me from the rear. He looked rather old, if the supposed beard on its face was any indication. Although this was been the second Transformer that talked to me, it still makes me feel uneasy, despite my inner fanboy screaming nonsensical gibberish from the sight of them (regardless of the design that would correlate with the Transformers movies...). I fidgeted a little before asking,"Who might you be? Er wait, lemme rephrase that. What's your name?" "_Be still young one, there is no need to fear me. I am Sentinel Prime. An ally to you and the other humans among my Autobot brothers._"

_Sentinel Prime? That's odd. I haven't heard of any other Prime mentioned before. Curse my lack of information. _I thought to myself before asking,"If that's the case, then how did you get here? I haven't heard of you before..."_ Although given the circumstances, something tells me he was an important character from the eventual third Transformers movie._ "_That will not be necessary. Know that I am here to fight against the Decepticons._" he had replied, making me feel a little put out that he wouldn't tell me anything.

"Ah well, that's alright. More power to you, I guess. So...what was the reason before Big Red showed up?" I asked the group curiously, seeing a few others sharing glances before one of the leading soldiers spoke up," Aside from providing intel on these '_Collectors_', we were ordered to make sure you stayed safe while another group will be sent to rescue your friends." _Oh, I guess that makes sense. I can't really fight anyway, so I'd end up jeopardizing the mission. At the very least, Legion and Delta are here...right?_ ''Hey Delta?" I asked the AI implanted in my glove, he reappeared in his usual green glow above the device."_How may I be of assistance_?" he asked in response in his usual normal voice. "Do you know if Legion came with us? I'd imagine that he did." Delta was silent for a moment before responding,"_ I do not know of a Legion, but I am very certain that Caboose is nearby. Perhaps he can tell you of your friend's location._"

"Okay, thanks Delta."

A pause...

"_You are welcome._"He faded back into the glove and I looked around for a signal to freely walk around again. It appeared that everyone had left or returned to their previous duties., though I have no doubt they would watch me in case I try and find the others. Speaking of which, I need to find Caboose before he hurts anyone by accident. Let's see...where can I find a guy in blue SPARTAN armor...This shouldn't be too difficult. Leaving the hanger, I spot a blue figure over by the aircraft, examining them with childlike curiosity. _That must be Caboose. Maybe he'll tell me what happened...I hope._

I briskly move to Caboose's location, only for him to continue heading off in another direction. Annoyed by this, I began running after him with hope that I can catch up to him. I saw him turn around to face me, making me slow down before I end up crashing into him. Upon seeing my arrival, he exclaimed,"Mr. Cain!" I briefly wondered how long he was going to stick with that name before I replied,"Hey there Caboose. Mind if I ask you a question, since I had to chase you down?" "Sure!" he chirped and I gave a small smile as I asked,"Do you know where the one-eyed robot is?" "Oh him? He's with Church, Tucker and the pretty blue lady. Was she your girlfriend or something?" I gave him an odd look and replied," No, why would you ask?" _It couldn't be because we were there at the same __time from his point of view? Most likely._ He gave a light shrug and said,"She was really mad at us when she thought you died when you blew up by our tank, which was _not my fault_." If I was capable of performing an anime sweat drop, I would right now so I settled for giving him an exasperated look and said to myself," That's so like you to say that."

Focusing back onto what happened while I 'died', I asked him in detail as much as he could and Caboose stated what had happened from the beginning to our arrival here. Once he finished recounting the events, I stayed silent for a few minutes trying to understand what exactly the Geth meant when he said that phrase. Granted, he must have picked it up from one of the books I kept in my room, though it makes me wonder if he actually understood it's meaning. _Bondsman, huh? Which book was it from? Who knows..._

With a sigh and a glance at Caboose with resignation, I reply," Well, thanks for the information. I need to find a way to get back to the others. Can't stand the idea that they stayed behind for us to escape. Caboose, do you know where we can find a way back?" Before Caboose could respond, a voice spoke,"Sorry, you won't be going anywhere. In fact, your stay on Earth has ended as of now." Intense pain coursed through my chest, almost indescribable. I look down to see a blade sticking out from where my lungs would be. I look back at Caboose, confusion evident on my face when I felt a slightly less intense pain from the blade extracting itself from my body, leaving me to stumble around until I fell to the ground. I could barely hear, see or anything at the moment and the last thing I saw was a man with a bloody sword fighting off an enraged Caboose.

_Great, now I'm gonna die for real this time...Fantastic._

...

...

...

_On second thought, screw that. No way I'm letting a damn stab wound stopping me at all. First things first, I gotta get up. _Forcing myself to open my eyes, I slowly move my right arm to push myself off the ground, though I'm still in a lot of pain. "Delta. A little assistance please?" I barely hear a reply from him before I feel a sudden rush in my body, like hot water had just been poured all over me. I winced as the bleeding hole started to close up rapidly and sealing shut.

"That's new. When did that happen?"

"_The first time this happened while you were unconscious the device activated and healed all of your prior injuries."_

"Huh. You'd think I'd be in no condition to move right now from being stabbed and all."

"_Hm. You are correct. The best course of action is for us to leave immediately._"

"I don't know what you did to survive that strike, but I guarantee you won't leave this place alive."

This time, I turn around and see my assassin attempting to perform another killing blow with his raised blade pointing down at me. I bring up my right arm to defend myself, only for him to come at me from below in an instant. My mind and body tried to process what happened, but it was too late. I took another sword blow to the abdomen. Another through the lungs. I was hurled back by his biotics, my body crashing onto the hard ground. During all this, my body kept trying to heal every time I came close to dying. Near fatal wound, intense pain, heal, more pain, and repeat. My body slowly began shutting down in an effort to keep me alive and before I knew it, the darkness claimed me once more.

* * *

><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

As Roland's damaged body collapsed, the assailant roughly grabbed him and hauled him over his shoulder. He then reached into a side pocket and pulled out an odd looking orb and activated it. The orb began glowing and floated away from his hand, casting an holographic image that displayed the Illusive Man in all his glory. The assassin spoke,"I have the package." "_Good work Leng. Take him to the shuttle for transport. I expect a briefing on the boy's capabilities so I can decide where he can best utilize his talents. Oh and make sure to stay under the radar for the time being, we don't want him questioning anything right now._" "Understood." The assassin known as Leng responded and looked at the downed form of Caboose and commented,"You were pretty strong. Too bad you weren't strong enough to save him. He belongs with Cerberus now."

Off in the distance, there are bodies lied strewn about, all human. The creatures known as the Collectors had rendered them unconscious due to the fact that they were searching for a specific human. These humans were spared from whatever horrifying prospects could have been in store for them. They had all vanished mysteriously, leaving naught but a desolate battlefield. Someone or _something_ had told them their target had left the planet and they departed from the primitive planet in pursuit to wherever they may have gone.

After all, he could not hide forever...


	6. Damnation of the Past

Mass Effect:

What Got Me In This Mess?

By:

Apathy of the Abyssal Void

Chapter 6:

_Damnation of the Past_

* * *

><p>The Geth unit flared his facial plates as he viewed the scenery, or what was left of it anyway. The destruction caused by the conflict between the Collectors and the strange armored humans. Legion had been separated during the fight as he attempted to fend off several Abominations that tried to venture beyond the battlefield. Upon his return, he found the humans lying on the ground unconscious and the Collectors gone. Using his Omni-tool, Legion scanned the humans for their vitals, and each of them showed that they were stable. The only thing left was to find a way to contact Optimus and the others.<p>

He didn't wait very long as several human military vehicles arrived at the new clearing. He observed the humans pouring out of their vehicles and secured the area. A few of them tried to move the unmoving bodies, but could not due to the weight of the armor they wore. He came down to assist, but was stopped by a few soldiers standing in front of the Geth with their guns raised at him. Before he could state that he meant no harm, a groan came from one of the unconscious forms. He turned around to see the one known as Carolina rising from the ground. "_Carolina, you are awake. Are you injured_?" He queried and her response was a hand-wave meaning she was alright.

Struggling to stand upright, she looked around the area in wonder as she saw the destruction all around her. She glanced over to the other blue soldiers lying on the ground unconscious, each in their own unique fashion. While they suffered some damage, it wasn't very severe. It was almost as if what these things were weren't trying to kill them at all, but they were intent on finding something here._ But what could that possibly be?_ Carolina mused as she kicked the one known as Church gently to see if he woke up yet. She was satisfied when she heard him groan in pain.

"Come on now, those things are gone so quit lying down." spoke the Freelancer to him and yanked the Blue off the ground onto his feet, only for him to stumble from the sudden change in movement before he righted himself. He looked around and asked," What happened? I feel like I had my head sent into a blender. Fuck!" Church grabbed his head and groaned as the pain intensified for a few seconds. As he continued suffering the other unconscious soldier woke up slowly and moaned out,"Shut up would ya? You're giving me a headache!"

"Hey, if I had to get up, you do too. So get up Tucker." Church retorted as he hauled the other Blue to his feet. Tucker shook his head and asked," So if the bug infestations gone, why are we still here?" Church shrugged and said, "Hell if I know, those bastards pack a serious punch though. I probably would've died." Carolina chose that moment to enter the conversation. "I doubt it. Whatever those things were, we weren't the target of the assault or otherwise they would've killed us sooner. But that leaves one question..." The three glanced at each other in curiosity before turning towards Legion, who happened to be standing not far from where Carolina stood.

Oddly enough, Legion had observed their interactions and recorded them for further investigations. For now, they needed to leave and regroup in a different location with their errant charge. Legion paused for a moment as his Omni-tool lit up showing him a message sent from the Illusive Man himself. The geth read it briefly before filing it away for future reference and spoke to Carolina," _We must vacate the area immediately. New coordinates have been received and we are to be directed elsewhere._"

Carolina nods in agreement and says,"Okay, let's go."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Elsewhere...<strong>_

Floating over an unknown world, an unusual station with an even more unusual shape, specifically designed for a top secret project. One of which was vital to the safety of it's creators and all of humanity, as well as the galaxy itself. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, the project was about to go through a trial run before it would be properly executed. And a certain AI had decided to assist in this endeavor, although for whatever reasons he has, the others do not know.

While it wasn't uncommon for Delta to experience situations where a comrade was in critical condition and assist them, it was much rarer that he would still be able to assist a friend in need while at the verge of death. At the moment, both the AI and his comatose companion had been transported to a Cerberus facility, presumably the one where Commander Shepard would be found within the next two years. He had asked the one known as Miranda Lawson, leader of the Lazarus Project, to be the one tasked with taking care of the more important parts of the "resurrection".

She initially refused, stating that as the head of the cell, she was the one responsible for both the trial run and the real thing. Luckily, Delta's logic won her over due to the fact he had intimate knowledge of the armored device that remained solidly attached to the body. Although it didn't hurt that the Illusive Man had allowed it anyway.

This lead to the current situation where Delta began the process of searching and activating deeply hidden programs, including the one that was responsible for the rapid regeneration when that assassin attacked them. His holographic avatar hovered over the gauntlet, facing what had appeared to be a command log displaying right above it. The AI turned around, facing two people who would be responsible for the task at hand. One obviously was Operative Lawson as Delta come to know her, and the other was Wilson.

"_I will now begin the revitalization process._" Delta stated before turning back to the floating panel. Wilson frowned before glancing at Miranda and whispered,"What's so special about this kid anyway? It's not like the Illusive Man to waste money on some nobody when we could be doing the same thing with Shepard." Miranda glanced back with an icy stare and replied,"The Illusive Man wants to make sure the project goes smoothly without difficulty. You've been told this before Wilson." "So? What's your point?" he asked, not satisfied with the answer he received.

"_It's because the Illusive Man sees something of value in this person, and I do as well. I believe it's better to leave it at that than to ask pointless questions."_ Delta responded, causing the pair to look back at the AI with mixed emotions, Miranda's expression was outwardly neutral but internally, she was glad that he ended the conversation so she didn't have to continue further. But that left her with a problem. The Illusive Man never gave any specific detail on the boy's importance, thus labeling him as an unknown, something that irked her greatly.

Delta glowed brightly before vanishing into the armored device, causing it and the panel glow for a brief second before it died down a little. The device gave a loud noise, as if a computer started up and the panel began to display words on its screen.

_[Initializing...]_

_[Initialization...Complete.] _

_[Begin scanning for structural damage.]_

_[Scanning...]_

_[**Warning. Severe physical damage. Locating all defensive/support subroutines...**]_

_[13 subroutines found. Prioritizing subroutines...Done.] _

_[Begin activation sequence...] _

_[Activating all subroutines...]_

_[Temporary Armor Extension: Activated.]_

_[Advanced Armor Transmutation: Activated. Transmutation Type: Healer.]_

_[Set Transmutation to Preselected Form.]_

_[Form: Savior. Set.]_

_[Beginning Transmutation...]_

_[Transmutation Complete.]_

_[Defensive Subroutine Activation. Complete.]_

_[Activating Support Subroutines...]_

_[Subsidiary Restoration Transference. Activated.] _

_[Outlier Strengthening Enhancements. Activated.] _

_[Internal Restoration Expansion. Activated.]_

_[Basic Outlier Renewing Inverse Neural Gatherers. Activated.]_

_[Beginning reparation sequence...]_

_[Repairing...2%]_

_..._

_[Repairing...4%]_

_..._

_[Running diagnostics...Done.]_

_[Repairing...9%]_

_[Activating Rapid Restoration Mode...]_

_[Initiating Restoration Buffers...]_

_[Repairing...13%]_

_..._

_[Repairing...24%]_

_..._

_[Repairing...29%]_

* * *

><p>As this was occurring, both Miranda and Wilson watched in wonder as the device shuddered and began shooting up along the arm, covering the whole body with the same material as the gauntlet. Then the armor gave a dull green glow as the armor shifted once more, changing into something that they never saw before. The new armor looked completely alien and yet, it radiated an angelic like aura about it.<p>

Several new screens began popping up around the command log, displaying the areas that were damaged the most which were slowly being healed. Miranda quickly ordered,"Wilson make sure this is recorded. The Illusive Man will want to know everything that's happened." "I'm on it." he replied before heading to a nearby console, bring up multiple data screens that were monitoring the process. Miranda furrowed her brow as she observed her new source of intrigue.'_This is very interesting. I must know what the secrets are to that device...I do have plenty of time, of course. I have all_ _the time in the world._' she thought to herself, eagerly awaiting the time when she would use the new data to replicate the results to benefit Cerberus.

However, Delta knew that this was a possibility, having access to the organization's databases sometime ago and subsequently learned of their not so pleasant history concerning the rest of the galaxy. Therefore, Delta had prepared to to delete any and all data that was relevant. For now, he would wait and see what they would do. After all, it was a matter of time until his compatriots would arrive as well and knowing them as much as he did, there was no way the Cerberus workers here would try anything.

As the main active occupants in the room remained focused on the task at hand, a knock was sounded on the door rather lightly. The door quickly opened to reveal a lone worker transporting various items on a cart that looked incredibly out of place from its surroundings. While the two human occupants gave a look of incredulity, Delta's form noticeably brightened at the sight of an old backpack with different items tucked away inside of it. The worker awkwardly said,"Uh, sorry about this. I was told to bring this stuff here..." Delta responded in his usual monotone voice,_"Excellent. You brought what I asked for. You may leave._" The worker nodded slightly before exiting the room, having left the awkwardness in the air for a few seconds before it dissipated.

Delta then focused his attention to Miranda once more and spoke, "_Now_,_ Miss Lawson. There should be a small electronic device that the boy stored in his bag. I need you to retrieve it and bring it here."_ "Is there any particular reason why you need it?" Miranda asked, curiosity began to gnaw at her. Delta paused for a moment before responding,"_I wish to see how the newly formed armor would react to this device, since the armor is currently fused to his nervous system, it could react to everything he does or thinks. It's possible the armor may reconfigure itself to integrate the device into its systems." _

Miranda gave a look of surprise at the AI's analysis of the armor. Though she had a feeling there might have been more to it than that. So she decided to voice her thoughts on the matter. Delta gave the following response," _The other reason is that I was told he had an interesting array of music, so I wished to see for myself what type of music his device contained."_ Miranda huffed in annoyance before moving the bag and began her thorough search for the device."I honestly don't see the point in retrieving a useless relic of a toy. It's beyond me that the Illusive Man would even need someone like him. He has no real talent, despite his interests in technology however miniscule it may be. If anything, our universe would break him in every way imaginable. So let me ask you, why did he even agree doing this?"

While their conversation level had been neutral at best, there was no way she would willingly trust a complete stranger (_even if he was a human)_ to take part in something he had no reason for doing so. On Delta's side, however, he noticed that she had held in her doubts about Roland for the most part until Wilson voiced his concerns earlier, which undoubtedly affected her in turn. Normally she would have been the type to not ask these questions unless she felt that the source of her troubles were to become a threat to Cerberus as a whole.

After a brief nanosecond of internal deliberation, Delta responded,"_I understand your concerns Miss Lawson, however illogical they are. I can assure you 99.9% that he will not recklessly endanger your mission here. After all, he has a personal mission that's not too different from what Commander Shepard would do. The likelihood of him succeeding is unknown, due to numerous variables that would need to be taken into consideration. I agree that he does not have a specialty at this time. However, given enough time to gather the remaining items necessary, he will be able to survive what's to come. Right now, he must recover from his injuries, so I suggest we continue this conversation at another time._"

Miranda continued searching while listening to Delta, having ignored the part where he gave the percentage, until she felt smooth metal in the left outer pocket of the backpack, carefully pulling it out in the process. She examined its peculiar design, having a silver back with printed labeling on it and a sleek black front with most of it being a screen. It also had a small indented button with a gray hollow square in the center. As she glided her fingers all over it, she accidentally pressed the button, which caused the screen to display a picture of an almost empty battery, a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark, a symbol for lightning and an odd symbol that looked like a semicircle with two lines sticking out, all of this being shown in front of a black background.

"I found it, however this thing needs to be recharged from what the display is telling me." Miranda commented as she brought the device in front of Delta, who had reappeared in front of the floating screens. Delta gave a motion to show he nodded, although it was hard to tell due to how stiff he was. He turned around, facing the screens and glowed briefly before the screens glowed as well. Suddenly, the upper chest area began convulsing before creating a ripple effect across the entire body. It shook for a moment longer before shooting upwards, two thin discs with 4 inch diameters slowly ejected from the armor, spinning gently in the air. Soon after, the discs hovered over to the small device in Miranda's hand.

One of the discs turned onto its side, the broadside much more visible. Lines began branching out from the center of the disc before they shifted to show circles from the center to the edge of the disc. The lines then flashed a red color and those lines caused the disc to separate into multiple rings of various sizes, remaining together within a tight formation. Slowly, each ring began to spin in a different direction before picking up speed rapidly, creating a blur with an accompanying hum as well, giving the appearance of an orb. The second disc, on the other hand, began to inflate from the broad areas until it became a sphere.

What made it so interesting was that both things happened simultaneously, leaving Miranda and Wilson speechless. The sphere then began emitting a blood red colored light from the outer most center facing them and shot out a beam onto the device, which enveloped it in the same light, lifting it into the air.'_A miniature tractor beam? No, something like that is unheard of. Then again, we are dealing with unknown tech here.'_ Miranda thought as the other rotating orb shined with a luminescent blue light that spread out onto the floating device, slightly mixing the colors together. The process took a few seconds before the light switched to green and vanished back into the spinning orb. The orb suddenly stopped, all of the rings frozen in place. The rings then slowly came together to reform into the disc they came from and the disc floated back to its point of origin, reinserting itself back into the armor.

The sphere on the other hand, carried the little device over to the armored body before lowering it until it was a mere centimeter above the chest. The sphere abruptly jerked over to the right arm, the source of the newly formed armor, dragging the device with it. As it hovered above the metal forearm, a section of the gauntlet opened with a series of fibrous cords running through began moving out towards the red sphere surrounding it. The sphere then retracted the red light back into itself and glided back down to where it came from, the remaining orifice of the armor. As it reached the hole, the sphere began to destabilize and shattered, the fragments melting down to fill the hole until no signs of it remained.

When the device was released from its red prison, it descended towards the awaiting cords that reached for it, quickly wrapping around it then brought it into the slot where it was meant to be inserted. As the bound device got closer, more and more of the cords parted to allow room for it, opening outward as if they had become a blooming flower. Once the space became large enough, the cords retracted further into the armor until the device was unbounded and properly placed inside. As it made contact, series of circuit-like lights shot out from the slot and part of the armor slid over it, sealing it away. "_Intriguing, isn't it?_" Delta queried, directing the question to the Cerberus operative and the assistant.

"Yes." Miranda replied, her voice faint and eyes distant. It's no wonder this technology was so special, to have something react upon the subconscious desires of its user and project those very same desires via armor. Although the armor itself only appears to be temporary until the rest are found. Perhaps that's why he wasn't automatically sent to Shepard's location. Once the remaining pieces were found, who knows what could happen. Some obvious theories came to light, such as accessing other functions that would require the use of multiple armor pieces once attached. Therein lied the problem: Where are the remaining pieces?

Before she could muse further, a white bordered screen popped up (with the sound of a small bell ringing to boot) above the other screens, nothing being displayed at the moment. It faded out after a few seconds, leaving Miranda to wonder the reason for the screen to appear in the first place. It reappeared not long after, revealing an unusual statement:

_**Thank you for bringing the Ipod. I greatly appreciate your assistance.**_

Miranda gaped as she read and repeated the statement in her head. "Wha-what is this?" she asked aloud, not really believing what she was seeing. In response, the words in the screen faded out and a new piece of dialogue showed:

_**Sorry, can't really hear you. The goofball's unconscious as you can so easily tell. Hold on a second. I must be confusing you right now. In fact, let's have Delta bring up a keyboard so you can type to talk. It's better we converse as the body is being reconstituted, other wise we may not have another chance to talk. Since Delta's already here, would you kindly?**_

Delta imperceptibly responded by bringing up a semi-holographic keyboard in front of the screens, with the white one moving down until it was just above it. Delta faced Miranda and spoke,"_It is ready for use Miss Lawson._" She nodded and walked to the keyboard, her fingers over the buttons in anticipation. She had no idea why she was feeling this way, but due to the recent bout of craziness, she felt entitled to having an anchor of lucidity to hold it all down, starting with this mysterious bystander. Running through a numerous amount of possible questions in her head, she started off with the simplest one, _Who are you?_

Her question popped up, removing the previous dialogue that was showing. Not very surprising, since it was behaving like any normal computer would, with a few..._discrepancies_. The screen remained eerily silent for a brief moment before it responded:

_**There we go Lawson, you **_**do****_ know how to talk! I kid, I kid. At any rate, as to _who_ I am...'tis a secret I cannot tell. However, I will say this: I am no enemy here. Nor am I a so-called _PARASITE_, as those radical dreamers would say, I am nowhere near from that despicable position. At the same time however, I am far, _FAR_ worse than you could possibly imagine..._**

As the mysterious voice spoke, the integrated Ipod began playing a song, which displayed itself on a different screen, but it lacked the information to show what the name of the song was. Although from the tone it was setting, the song was anything but pleasant. It was loud enough to be heard within the room, giving off that same unpleasant feeling, only more so. When the new text appeared, she would realize how terrifyingly accurate the song was in relation to what would be stated...

* * *

><p>What would the name be, you ask? It'll come up soon enough. Now kindly read what this being has to say...<p>

* * *

><p><em><strong>Our positions are somewhat...unique. In fact, I would go so far to say that we are two sides of the same coin. I represent all that of which he has kept locked away within himself, which is understandable, considering that he fears naught but the darkness within his imagination. His darkness, gave me sentience out of kindness and fear. He believed that he would become a mindless beast that sought its own destruction and the destruction of everything around him. No, that's not right at all. <strong>_**I****_ was the savage beast back then. Not him. His mind wouldn't have been able to handle the guilt of committing the one atrocity no one should commit in their young life. Especially at the tender age of 12 years old._**

_**Although if one had observed the situation as a neutral party, they would hardly blame the child for reacting the way he did. But I suppose that's all I can say about that. He never did like speaking poorly of his family, **_**especially****_ his siblings. _I_ on the other hand..._**

_***chuckle* **_

_**But I suppose that's me putting it lightly. However, that doesn't mean he never had problems with them in the past. In fact, **_**they****_ were the reason he had lost his mental faculties. _They_ were the reason he lost control of himself. _They_ were the reason his mind broke into the tiny fragments before being improperly rebuilt_._ THEY were the reason I was created in the first place. THEY WERE THE REASON HE ALMOST LOST HIS INNOCENCE AND HUMANITY!_**

* * *

><p>The words displayed themselves exactly as how someone would normally talk, including where the speaker had gotten angry and yelled through the screen itself, causing it to distort slightly before both the speaker and the screen settled down. Once the screen became normal again, the speaker began again; only this time, it would be a lot worse.<p>

* * *

><p>As she heard the music, she started to become more and more afraid of what she would 'hear' from this foul being that she was conversing with, the music in the background amplifying the mood. Despite this, she pressed onward with a morbid idea that she would learn something she would never forget...And you know what? She would be correct on that assumption.<p>

* * *

><p><em><strong>I was born the moment he almost became something that later on neither of us had wanted, especially him. A terrible creature of chaotic emotions that would have murdered his own in a blind rage. But he was weak, his body wasn't strong enough to overpower and murder his would-be victim. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. <strong>_

**They_ saw what became of him when he unleashed the monster within. _**

_**And out of that sorrowful savagery, his mind fractured violently at the mere thought of the implication of his consequences had he followed through with it. You know what I'm referring to, don't you Miranda Lawson?**_

* * *

><p><em>No,<em> she thought to herself, her body shivering from the false frost in the room, unmindful of the fact that the room itself was terribly affected by the music as well. The lights had dimmed considerably, the electrical equipment had become thoroughly erratic, and even the room itself shuddered by the dark influential music. Wilson had noticed what was happening, and was suitably freaking out at the sudden chaos in the room. He shouted hysterically,"What the fuck is going on here!?"

Miranda gave a small shudder as she moved to the side to see the body in the same position, completely immune to the chaos it wrought upon them. She turned to Delta, who was observing the scene with great interest. Never before had the AI seen such things happening during his brief existence. It was rather startling how a human with a dark alter ego would be the cause of all of this. Nevertheless, he remained silent as the conversation continued.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Oh yes...you know exactly what I'm talking about. You're no stranger to Death, Miranda. We both know what you've done in the name of your beloved 'Cerberus'. All of those people that have died because of <strong>_**your**_** organization. **_

_**Those people who died for **_**your**_** organization. **_

_**Those who have **_**suffered**_** at the hands of **_**your**_** organization. **_

_**Those who **_**fear ****you. **

_**Those who **_**hate ****you.**

_**Those who **_**loathe ****you.**

_**Those who **_**despise ****you.**

_**Those who **_**conspire against ****you.**

_**Those who **_**love you.**

_**Those who **_**worship ****you**_**!**_

_**But enough about **_**you**_**. Back to the subject at hand. Our dear friend here, who lies in a coma because of YOUR ORGANIZATION! Did you honestly think I wouldn't be able to notice the logo on your assassin? Did you really think the Illusive Man's pet would actually pull one over us? No? I didn't think so.**_

_**As I previously stated, my friend's tortured mind had hastily rebuilt itself and therefore stunted future growth for a small time until **_**I_ fixed it all. _I _helped him survive his ordeal. I pleaded with him to allow me to take revenge against his aggressors, but he stayed my hand with good reason to boot. Besides, who would want to live the life of a KIN SLAYER!?_**

* * *

><p>Throughout the entire conversation, the music became more intense with the use of strong chords of guitars, the chorus rising before settling for a series of strings that sounded <em>very<em> sinister, and again the chorus would rise slowly (and more powerful) before it switched to a woman wailing at the end of the song. As it ended, the name _burned_ itself in the center of the screen, flames dancing around the letters in a monstrous manner. The letters themselves, inscribed in bold Gothic letters with blood as their chosen color to properly fit the sinister name. Once the name was fully written, the flames flashed brightly before vanishing, revealing not only the song's title but the very nature of the boy's terrible past...

_**The Eternal Conflict**_

* * *

><p>Alrighty! It looks like our little hero has a bit of a dark side in him...Who knows what'll happen next.<p>

At any rate, I humbly apologize for not posting this chapter sooner. Lemme know what ya think and if there's anything that requires additional thought to this chapter or any other chapter that I have completed.

_Until next time..._

_**En taro Tassadar!**_


End file.
